CHRIST THE HEALER 


SERMONS 
DIVINE HEALING 


BY 


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CHRIST THE HEALER 


SERMONS 
DIVINE HEALING 


BY 


EVANGELIST F. F. BOSWORTH 


6 


Copyright, 1924, by 
F. F. BOSWORTH 


PREFACE 


These sermons are published in response to 
urgent requests we are constantly receiving from - 
ministers and others in the cities where we have 
held revival campaigns in the United States and 
Canada. They have been written under great 
pressure and weariness, occasioned by continuous 
revivals. Had time permitted, we would have 
taken greater care in their preparation, and in- 
cluded several other sermons. 

We make no pretense to literary style; our one 
aim being to make the simplest possible statement 
of the arguments presented. We ask the indul- 
gence of the reader in what may be lacking in lit- 
erary precision; but a careful perusal of these 
pages will, we hope and believe, prove a blessing 
to all who need these truths. 


EF. F. BOSWORTH. 


538 William Street, 
River Forest, Illinois. 





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———- 


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CONTENTS 


SERMON I 


Did Jesus Redeem Us From Our Diseases 
When He Atoned for Our Sins? ... 1 


SERMON II 

ES ERC FOP UAE Uk) Hoy iS nag 33 
SERMON III 

The Lord’s Compassion, ........se0e68 62 
SERMON IV 


How to Appropriate the Redemptive and 
Covenant Blessing of Bodily Healing, 84 


SERMON V 
Pe NE OPI be ead lola ta Oy cho vanahente 115 


Thirty-one Questions, ...-..cecec0008-8 137 


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DID JESUS REDEEM US FROM OUR DISEASES 
WHEN HE ATONED FOR OUR SINS? 





(Note—If you, Reader, have been taught to regard 
sickness as a “thorn in the flesh” which must remain, we 
_would urge you to read the sermon on “Paul’s Thorn” 
before you read any other sermon in this book. Otherwise 
you will likely miss the force of the scriptural arguments 
presented in other parts of the book.) 


Before answering the above question from the 
Word of God, I invite your attention to a few facts 
taught in the Scriptures which bear on this sub- 
ject. | 

The Scriptures declare, in Romans 5:12, that 
“By one man sin entered the world, and death by 
sin.” Here it is plainly stated that death entered 
the world by sin. Therefore it is clear that dis- 
ease, which is incipient death, entered into the 
world by sin. Now, since disease entered by sin, 
its true remedy must be found in the redemption 
of Christ. Since disease reached us through the 
power of Satan, it being called the oppression of 
the devil (Acts 10:38), what power, when nature 
fails, can remove it but the power of the Son of 
God? As soon as disease has advanced beyond 
the power of nature to recover us, it will result 


2 CHRIST THE HEALER 


in death in every case unless removed by the 
power of God. This all honest physicians will 
admit, for they claim only the power to assist 
nature, not to heal. In this event, anything that 
would hinder the power of God thus supplement- 
ing nature would make recovery impossible. Ac- 
cordingly, James says: “Confess your faults one 
to another . . . that ye may be healed” meaning 
that otherwise ye cannot be healed. 

When disease has advanced beyond the power 
of nature, neither nature, nor the physician, nor 
even prayer, can save the sufferer until he con- 
fesses his sins, unless God, for some sovereign 
purpose of His own, removes the disease. Since 
disease is a part of the curse, its true remedy must 
be the cross, for who can remove the curse but 
God, and how can God justly do it except by sub- 
stitution? The Bible teaches, as one writer puts 
it, that disease is the physical penalty of iniquity, 
but that Christ has borne in His body all our 
physical liabilities on account of sin, and that 
therefore our bodies are released judicially from 
disease. Through Christ’s redemption we may 
all have, as a part of the “earnest of our inherit- 
ance” the “life also of Jesus . . . made manifest 
in our mortal flesh,” to supplement nature until 
our work is finished. In the same way that we 
may receive the “firstfruits’ of our spiritual sal- 
vation, we can receive the “firstfruits” of our 
physical salvation. 

Now, to the question, 


HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 3 


DID JESUS REDEEM US FROM OUR DISEASES WHEN HE 
ATONED FOR OUR SINS? 


If, as some teach, healing is not in the Atone- 
ment, why were types of the Atonement given in 
connection with bodily healing throughout the Old 
Testament? In the 12th chapter of Exodus, why 
were the Israelites required to eat the flesh of the 
passover lamb for physical strength, unless we 
can receive physical life, or strength, from 
Christ, who, Paul says, is “our Passover, sacrificed 

for us?” 765 years after the institution of the 
_ passover, we read in II Chronicles, 30th chapter, 
20th verse, that, “The Lord hearkened to Heze- 
kiah, and healed the people” when they kept the 
passover. Accordingly, Paul, in I Corinthians 
11:30, speaks of the failure of the Corinthians to 
rightly “estimate the body’ (Weymouth’s trans- 
lation) of “Christ our Passover” as the reason 
why many among them were “weak and sickly . 
..” The Lord’s Supper is more than an ordi-— 
nance, because we may partake of Christ while we 
are partaking of the emblems of His death and 
the benefits thereof. In Christ there is both bodi- 
ly and spiritual life, and surely there is no better 
time for availing ourselves of the privilege of 
having the “life also of Jesus . . . made manifest 
in our mortal flesh.” (II Cor. 4:11). 


HEALING TAUGHT IN OLD TESTAMENT TYPES 


Again, in Leviticus 14:18, we read of the priest 
making atonement for the cleansing of the leper. 


4 _ CHRIST THE HEALER 


Why an atonement for the leper’s healing if 
healing for us is not in the Atonement of Christ? 
The types in Leviticus, 14th and 15th chapters, 
show us that it was invariably through atonement 
that sickness was healed. This, to our mind, is 
a complete answer to the question we are discuss- 
ing, should we go no further, because all of these 
typical atonements point to, and prefigure Cal- 
vary. 

Again, Jesus tells us, in Luke 4:19, that He was 
anointed “to preach the acceptable year of the 
Lord,” referring to the Old Testament year of 
Jubilee. This shows us that the year of Jubilee 
is strikingly typical of gospel blessings, for here 
He, Himself, applies the year of Jubilee to the 
Gospel era. 

Leviticus 25:9 shows us that no blessing of the 
year of Jubilee was to be announced by the sound- 
ing of the trumpet until the Day of Atonement. 
On this day a bullock was slain as a sin-offering, 
and the mercy seat sprinkled with blood. No mer- 
cy was offered -until the blood of the atonement 
sprinkled the mercy seat, because it would be a 
judgment seat if not sprinkled with blood. This 
teaches us that no mercy or blessing of the Gospel 

4 is offered to us irrespective of Christ’s Atonement. 


RECOVERY OF ALL LOST IN THE FALL 


Through the Fall we lost everything. Jesus re- 
covered all through His atonement. It was on the 
Day of Atonement that God said, “Ye shall return 


4 ; { } hes ; 
~ HEME ALL CT HEALINES WERE BASED OM MESSIANS 





Coming ATONEMEVT SVE AS AW OT FOR EIVEVESS 


WAS BASED EN THE SAME 


HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 5 


every man to his possession.” The order in the 
year of Jubilee is, first the atonement, then the 
sounding of the trumpet of the Jubilee, with the 
glad tidings “ye shall return every man to his pos- 
session.” So, now, the order is the same; first, 
Calvary, then the Gospel trumpet that He “bare 
our sins” and “bare our sicknesses,” etc., to be 
sounded “to every creature;’”’ showing us that we 
may return “every man to his possession.”” 

God’s seven redemptive names, one of which is 
Jehovah-Rapha, “I am the Lord that healeth 
thee,” shows us what lost possessions “every man” 
may return to during our dispensation. ‘The two 
outstanding possessions to be restored during the 
Gospel era are health for soul and body ; therefore, 
forgiveness and healing were offered universally 
wherever Christ preached “the acceptable year of 
the Lord,” in order that the “inner” and “outer” 
man might be whole and ready for the service of 
God, “thoroughly furnished unto every good 
work,” so they could finish theiz course. 

Some of the Fundamentalists who attack the 
Christian Scientists for believing we can be saved 
irrespective of Calvary make exactly the same 
blunder when they say they believe in healing but 
that it is offered irrespective of Calvary. It is to 
me, as well as to them, a mystery how anyone can 
say that the blood of Christ was just as efficacious 
flowing in His veins as it was shed, in the face of 
every bleeding sacrifice of the Old Testament to 
the contrary and the statement “without the shed- 


6 CHRIST THE HEALER 


ding of blood there is no remission of sins.’”’ Adopt 
a bloodless religion and you have but a religion of 
ideas, and nothing but a human thrill, because 
“joy unspeakable and full of glory” can never be 
known except by those who have been saved 
through the blood of Christ. It is just as great a 
mystery to me how these Fundamentalists can say 
that healing is bestowed without reference to 
Christ’s death. The salvation of any part of man 
without sacrifice is unknown in Scripture. 

If bodily healing is offered and is to be preached 
irrespective of Calvary, why was it that no bles- 
sing of the year of Jubilee was to be announced 
by the sounding of the trumpet until the Day of 
Atonement? Paul tells us that it is “in Him” that 
all the promises of God are yea and amen; which 
is another way of saying that all the promises of 
God, including His promise to heal, owe their ex- 
istence and power exclusively to the redeeming 
work of Christ. 


HEALING NOT DEFERRED UNTIL THE MILLENNIUM 


Some ministers are trying to relegate bodily 
healing to the Millennial Day, but Jesus said “this 
day” (not the Millennial Day) is this scripture ful- 
filled in your ears.” It was in the Church (not 
the millennium) that God set (established) 
“teachers, miracles, gifts of healing,’ etc. None 
in the Church will need healing during the millen- 
nium, because they will receive glorified bodies 
before the millennium, when they are “caught up 


HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 7 


to meet the Lord in the air,” when this mortal 
puts on immortality. If we are going to relegate 
healing to the millennium, we shall have to do 
so with the “teachers,” etc., that God set in the 
Church, with the “gifts of healing.”’ To say that 
healing is only for the millennium is synonymous 
with saying that we are now in the millennium, 
because God is healing many thousands in this 
day. ! 

God’s all-inclusive promise is to pour His Spirit 
upon all flesh during the “acceptable year of the 
Lord,” which is the dispensation of the Holy 
Spirit. He comes as Christ’s executive, to execute 
for us all the blessings of redemption—to bring 
to us “the earnest” or “‘firstfruits’” of our spiritual 
and physical inheritance, until the last enemy, 
which is death, is destroyed, thus admitting us to 
our full inheritance 


FAITH COMES BY HEARING 


The reason why many of the sick in our day 
have not returned to their physical possessions is 
that they have not heard the trumpet sound on 
this line. ‘Faith cometh by hearing,” and they 
have not heard; because many ministers had their 
Gospel trumpet put out of order while in the theo- 
logical seminary. They remind me of a man 
whom I knew who played a trombone in a brass 
band. At the beginning of a rehearsal the boys 
put a small spike into the mouth-piece of his horn, 
so that, when he blew, his breath went against 


& CHRIST THE HEALER ~ 


the head of the spike, making it impossible for him 
to produce much sound out of the horn, but he 
went through the whole rehearsa: without dis- 
covering what was wrong. Some preachers, like - 
this man, think they are blowing their Gospel 
trumpet all right, and have not discovered that 
there is not half as much coming out of it as there 
ought to be. They are not, like Paul, declaring 
“the whole counsel of God.” 

As here in Leviticus the types show that healing 
was invariably through atonement, so Matthew 
8:17 definitely states that Christ healed all dis- 
eases on the ground of the Atonement. The 
Atonement was His reason for making no excep- 
tions while healing the sick. “He .. . healed all 
that were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was 
spoken by Esaias, the prophet, saying: Himself 
took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.” 
Since it is owr sicknesses He bore, His Atonement 
embracing us all, it would require the healing of 
all to fulfil this prophecy. Jesus is still healing 
all who come to Him with living faith, “that it 
might be fulfilled ... ” 

Since in the darker age of the types they all 
had the privilege of being healed, surely in this 
“better” dispensation, with its “better” Covenant 
and “better” promises, God has not withdrawn 
this Old Testament mercy. If so, we are robbed 
that much by the coming and Atonement of 
Christ. 

In Numbers 16:46-50, after 14,700 had died of 


HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 9 


the plague, Aaron, as priest, in his mediatorial 
office, stood for the people between the dead and 
the living and made an atonement for the remov- 
al of the plague—the healing of the body. So 
Christ, our Mediator, by His Atonement, redeemed 
us from the “plague” of sin and sickness. 


THE TYPE OF THE BRAZEN SERPENT 


Again, in Numbers 21:9, we read of the Israel- 
ites all healed by looking at the brazen serpent 
which was lifted up as a type of the Atonement. 
If healing was not to be in the Atonement, why 
were these dying Israelites required to look at the 
type of the Atonement for bodily healing? Since 
both healing and forgiveness came through the 
type of the Atonement, why not to us through 
Christ, the Antitype? As their curse was re- 
- moved by the lifting up of the brazen serpent, so 
Paul tells us that ours is removed by the lifting 
up of Christ. (Galatians 3:18). 

Again, in Job 33:24-25, we read: “I have found 
a ransom (margin, atonement), his flesh shall be 
fresher than a child’s; he shall return to the days 
of his youth.” Here, we see Job’s flesh was 
healed through an atonement. Why not ours? 

Again, David opens the 103d Psalm by calling 
upon his soul to bless the Lord and to “forget not 
all His benefits,’ and then he specifies, ‘Who for- 
giveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy 
diseases.” How does God forgive sin? Of course, 
through the Atonement of Christ. He heals dis- 


10 CHRIST THE HEALER 


ease in the same way, because the Atonement of 
Jesus Christ is the only ground for any benefit to 
fallen man. How can God save any part of man 
except through the Atonement? 

In I Corinthians 10:11, Paul tells us “All these 
things happened unto them for ensamples (mar- 
gin, as types); and they are written for our 
admonition upon whom the ends of the world 
(ages) are come.” In Galatians 3:7,16,29, the 
Holy Spirit shows us clearly that these things are 
for us as well as for Israel. ‘Know ye, therefore, 
that they which are of faith the same are the 
children of Abraham . .. now to Abraham and 
his seed were the promises made... and if ye 
(Gentiles) be Christ’s ye are Abraham’s seed, and 
heirs according to the promise.” ‘Therefore ye 
are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow- 
citizens with the saints and with the household of 
God.” 

The Rev. Daniel Bryant, in’ his book “Christ 
Among Our Sick,” says, ‘“‘The Church then learned 
what the Church needs, it seems, to learn again; 
namely, that there is no difference to the compas- 
sionate Christ between a sick Gentile and a sick 
Jew.” 


THE SEVEN REDEMPTIVE NAMES OF JEHOVAH 


To me, another unanswerable argument that 
healing is in the Atonement is to be found in the 
seven redemptive names of Jehovah. On pages 
6 and 7 of the Schofield Bible, Mr. Schofield, in his 


HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 11 


foot-note on the redemptive names, says that the 
name “Jehovah is distinctly the redemptive name 
of deity,” and means “the Self-existent One Who 
reveals Himself.” These seven redemptive names, 
he says, “point to a continuous and increasing 
self-revelation.” He then says, “In His redemp- 
tive relation to man, Jehovah has seven compound 
names which reveal Him as meeting every need of 
man from his lost state to the end.” 

Since it is His redemptive relation to us that 
- these names reveal, they must each point to Cal- 
vary where we were redeemed, and the blessing 
that each name reveals must be provided by the 
Atonement. This the Scriptures clearly teach. 

The following are the seven redemptive names: 

JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH—*"The Lord is there,” — 
or present, revealing to us the redemptive privi- 
lege of enjoying His presence, Who says, “Lo, I 
am with you always.” That this blessing is pro- 
vided by the Atonement is proven by the fact that 
we are “made nigh by the blood of Christ.” 

JEHOVAH-SHALOM—tThe Lord our Peace, 
reveals to us the redemptive privilege of having 
His Peace. Accordingly Jesus says, “My peace I 
give unto thee.” This blessing is in the Atone- 
ment, because “the chastisement of our peace was 
upon Him” when He “made peace by the blood of 
His cross.” 

JEHOVAH-RA-AH is translated “The Lord is 
my Shepherd.” He became our Shepherd by giv- | 
ing “His life for the sheep,” therefore this privi- 


12 CHRIST ‘THE HEALER | 


lege is a redemptive privilege, purchased by the 
Atonement. | 
JEHOVAH-JIREH, means “the Lord will pro- 
vide” an offering, and Christ .was the Offering 
provided for our complete redemption. . 
JEHOVAH-NISSI, means “the Lord is our 
Banner,” or “Victor,” or “Captain.” It was when, 
by the cross, Christ triumphed over principalities 
and powers that He provided for us, through the 
Atonement, the redemptive privilege of saying, 
“thanks be unto God which giveth us the victory 
through our Lord, Jesus Christ.” 
JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU, is translated ‘the 
Lord our Righteousness.” He becomes our right- 
eousness by bearing our sins on the cross; there- 
fore our redemptive privilege of receiving ‘“‘the 
gift of righteousness” is an Atonement blessing. 


THE LORD OUR PHYSICIAN 


JEHOVAH-RAPHA, is translated “I am the 
Lord thy Physician,” or “I am the Lord that heal- 
eth thee.” This name is given to reveal to us our 
redemptive privilege of being healed. This privi- 
lege is purchased by the Atonement, for Isaiah, in 
the Redemptive Chapter, declares, “Surely He 
hath borne our sicknesses and carried our pains.” 
For the sake of the argument, I have reserved this 
name for the last. The fact is, that the very first 
Covenant God gave after the passage of the Red 
Sea, which was so distinctively typical of our re-. 
demption, was the covenant of healing, and it was 


HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 13 


at this time that God revealed Himself as our 
Physician, by the first redemptive and covenant 
name, Jehovah-Rapha, “I am the Lord that healeth 
thee.” This is not only a promise, it is “a statute 
and an ordinance.” And so, corresponding to this 
ancient ordinance, we have, in the command of 
James 5:14, a positive ordinance of healing in 
Christ’s name as sacred and binding upon every 
church to-day as the ordinances of the Lord’s Sup- 
per and of Christian Baptism: Since Jehovah- 
' Rapha is one of His redemptive names, sealing the 
covenant of healing Christ, during His exaltation, 
could no more abandon His office of Healer than 
that revealed by each of His other six redemptive 
names. Have any of the blessings which His 
redemptive names reveal been withdrawn from 
this “better” dispensation? 

Having considered some of the types which 
teach healing, let us now consider the Antitype—. 
the Atonement itself, as it is described in the great 
Redemptive Chapter, the 53d of Isaiah, the great- 
est chapter of the greatest of the prophets,. in 
which is fully stated the doctrine of Atonement. 
Since the types of the Old Testament taught heal- 
ing, it is certainly unwarranted and illogical to 
place the Antitype on lower ground. 


HE CARRIED OUR PAINS 


Before quoting from this chapter, may I state 
that the Hebrew words choli and makob have been 
incorrectly translated “griefs’” and “sorrows.” 


14 CHRIST THE HEALER 


All who have taken the time to examine the orig- 
inal text have found, what is everywhere acknowl- 
edged, that these two words mean, respectively, 
“sicknesses” and “pains,” everywhere else 
throughout the Old Testament. This word, choli 
is interpreted “disease” and “sickness in Deut. 
7:15; 28:61; I Kings 17:17; II Kings 1:2; 8:8; II 
Chron. 16:12; 21:15; and other texts. The word 
makob is rendered “pain” in Job 14:22; 33:19, etc. 
Therefore the prophet is saying, in this 4th verse, 
“Surely He hath borne our sicknesses and carried 
our pains.” The reader is referred to any stand- 
ard Commentary for additional testimony on this 
point; but there is no better commentary than 
Matthew 8:16-17. 


AN INSPIRED COMMENTARY 


That Isaiah 53:4 cannot refer to disease of the 
soul, and that neither of the words translated 
“sickness” and “pain” have any reference to 
spiritual matters but to bodily sickness alone, is 
proven by Matthew 8:16,17,—*" . . . and He cast 
out the spirits with His word, and healed all that 
were sick; that it might be fulfilled which was 
spoken by Esaias, the Prophet, saying, Himself 
took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” 
This is an inspired commentary on this 4th verse 
of Isaiah 538, plainly declaring that the prophet 
refers to bodily ailments, and therefore the word 
“sickness,” choli, must be read literally in Isaiah. 


The same Holy Spirit who inspired this verse 
quotes it in Matthew as the explanation of the 
universal application by Christ of His power to 
heal the body. To take any other view is equal 
to accusing the Holy Spirit of making a mistake 


HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 


in quoting His own prediction. 


I will here quote the learned translator, Dr. 


Young, in his version of the Bible: 


3. 


10. 


12. 


Dr. Isaac Leeser, the able translator of the 


He is despised, and left of men, 


A man of pains) (Heb., Makob), and acquainted with 


‘sickness ) (choli), 
And as one hiding the face from us, 


He is despised and we esteemed him not. 


Surely our. sicknesses) (choli) he hath borne, 


And our pains) (makob) he hath carried them, 


And we—we have esteemed him, Plagued, » 
Smitten of God and afflicted. 
And he is pierced for our transgressions, 
Bruised for our iniquities, 
The chastisement of our peace is.on him, 
And by his bruise there is healing to us. 
All of us like sheep have wandered, 
Each to his own way we have turned, 
And Jehovah hath caused to meet on him 
The( punishment of us all. 
And Jehovah kath delighted to bruise him; 
He hath made him sick (choli) ; ; 
If his soul doth make-an. offering for guilt, 
He seeth seed—he prolongeth days. 

. With transgressors he was numbered, 
And he the sin of many hath borne, 
And for transgressors he intercédeth. 


16 CHRIST THE HEALER 


Hebrew English Bible, renders these verses as 
follows: 


ca) 


3. “He was despised and shunned of men: ; 
A man of/pains and acquainted with disease.) 
4, “But only our ‘diseases did he bear himself, 
And our pains he carried. 
5. “And through his bruises was healing granted to us. 
10. “But the Lord was pleased to crush him through 
disease.” 


Rotherham’s translation of the 10th verse is 
“He hath laid on Him sickness.” 


FROM YOU AND ME TO CALVARY 


In the 4th verse, the word “borne” (nasa) 
means to lift up, to bear away, to convey, or to 
remove to a distance. It is a Levitical word, and 
is applied to the scapegoat, that bare away the 
sins of the people. “The goat shall bear (nasa) 
upon him all their iniquities wnto a land not inhab- 
ited; and he shall let go the goat in the wilder- 
ness.” (Lev. 16: hale So Jesus bore my sins and , 
sicknesses away “without the camp” to the cross. He +t 
Sin and sickness have passed from me to Gal- — 
vary—salvation and health have passed from 
Calvary to me. 

Again, in this 4th verse of the Redemption 
Chapter the Hebrew verbs for “borne” and “car- 
ried” (nasa and sabal) are both the same as are 
used in the 11th and 12th verses for the substitu- 
tionary bearing of sin, “He shall bear (carry) 
their iniquities,” and ‘He shall bear the sin of 
many.” Both words signify to assume as a heavy 


ps ea 


HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 17 


burden, and denote actual substitution, and a com- 
plete removal of the thing borne. When Jesus 
bore our sins, our sicknesses and our pains, He 
bore them away, or removed them. Both these 
words mean substitution, one bearing another’s 
load. 

On this point, permit me to quote from “JESUS 
OuR HEALER,” a splendid tract written by the Rev. 
W. C. Stevens, published and sold by the Biola 
Book Store of the Torrey Bible Institute, Los 
‘Angeles, California. He says, “This prophecy 
presents healing as an integral part of the vicari- 
ous Atonement . . . Now, whatever be the sense 
of these two Hebrew verbs (nasa and sabal), the 
same sense must be applied in both cases, namely, 
of sin-bearing and sickness-bearing. To pervert 
the sense in one case would give liberty to pervert 
it in the other. And that the sense of the verbs as 
relating to sin, not only here in this prophecy, but 
everywhere else in the Old Testament, is strictly 
vicarious and expiatory, no evangelical student 
disputes. This prophecy, therefore, gives the 
same substitutionary and expiatory character to 
Christ’s connection with sickness that is every- 
where given to His assumption of our sins. 


AN INSPIRED TRANSLATION 


We are accordingly shut up by the Spirit to 
the redemptive sense of Christ’s bearing of sick- 
ness. This interpretation is fully sustained by 
Prof. Delitzsch’s exposition of Isaiah 53:4. Free- 


18 CHRIST THE HEALER 


ly but faithfully does the Gospel of Matthew 
translate this text, “Himself took our infirmities 
and bare our sickness.” The help which Jesus 
rendered in all kinds of bodily sickness is taken in 
Matthew to be a fulfilment of what in Isaiah is 
prophesied of the Servant of Jehovah. The He- 
brew verbs of the text, when used of sin, signify 
to assume as a heavy burden and bare away the 
guilt of sin as one’s own; that is, to bear sin me- 
diatorially in order to atone for it. But here, 
where, not sins, but our sicknesses and our pains 
are the object, the mediatorial sense remains the 
same. It is not meant that the Servant of Jehovah 
merely entered into fellowship of our. sufferings, 
but that He took upon Himself the sufferings 
which we had to bear and deserved to bear; and 
therefore He not only bore them away, but also in 
His own Person endured them in order to dis- 
charge us from them. Now, when one takes suf- 
ferings upon himself which another had to bear, 
and does this not merely in fellowship with him 
but in his stead, we call it substitution. Here, 
then, the best results of rigid exegesis show that 
the bearing and removal of human disease is an 
integral part of redeeming work, a provision of 
the Atonement, a part of the doctrine of Christ 
Crucified ; that Jesus is the Savior of the body as 
well as of the spirit, and that 
He comes to make His blessings flow 
Far as the curse is found. 


“Bodily healing by direct Divine agency be- 


HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 19 


comes a boon for every believer in any period of 
Gospel history. It settles the question of a preach- 
er’s duty to preach it.” 


AN OBJECTION ANSWERED 


A Canadian writer objects that Matthew 8:17 
cannot refer to the Atonement, because since 
Christ had not yet been crucified, this would be 
“making Christ live an atoning life.” This, to me, 
is no argument at all, since Christ was “the Lamb 
- of God slain from the foundation of the world.” 
He not only healed disease before Calvary, but He 
also forgave sins, and yet both of these mercies 
were bestowed on the ground of the Atonement 
yet future. 

A prominent New York clergyman raises prac- 
tically the same objection. He argues that the 
fact that Christ, in Matthew, is fulfiling Isaiah’s 
prophecy by healing the sick, proves that “Jesus 
bore our sickness not on the Cross, but when He 
was alive in the city of Capernaum.” In answer- 
ing this, I have only to ask, Did Jesus bear our 
iniquities in Capernaum or on the Cross? His 
forgiving of sins as well as His healing of the sick 
were both done with respect to His coming Atone- 
ment, because ‘without the shedding of blood 
there is no remission.” 

The prophecy states that “He hath borne our 
sicknesses.”? This includes all others, as well as 
those at Capernaum. In verses 4 and 5 of this 
Redemption Chapter, we see Him dying for 


20 ‘CHRIST THE HEALER | 


“OUR sicknesses” 

“OUR pains” 

“OUR transgressions” 

“OUR iniquities” 

“OUR peace” 

“OUR healing” for “by His stripes we are 
healed.” 

We would have to misquote to exclude RCE 
from any of these. blessings. 

The only “surely”? in the Redemption Chapter 
prefaces His provision for our healing. There 
could be no stronger statement of our. complete 
redemption from pain and sickness by His Aton- 
ing death. If Christ, as some think, is unwilling 
to heal as universally during His exaltation as He 
did during His humiliation, then He would have 
to break His promise in St. John 14:12, 13, and He 
would not be “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, 
today and forever.” 

The fact of healing in the Atonement necessi- 
tates the continuation of His healing ministry dur- 
ing His exaltation, because His redeeming work 
embraced all who live on earth while He is with 
the Father. . Accordingly, He gives the above 
promise to do the same, and greater works, in 
answer to our prayers from God’s right hand. As 
long as the Church remained under the control of 
the Spirit the same works continued, and history 
reveals, as Dr. A. J. Gordon puts it, “that when- 
ever we find a revival of primitive faith and Apos- 
tolic simplicity, there we find the Evangelical mir- 


HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 21 


acles which surely characterize the Apostolic age. 
The Apostle tells us, “He was made sin for us 
Who knew no sin” (of His own.) Likewise, “He 
hath made Him sick” (for us) Who knew no 
sickness (of His own.) Peter writes, “Who His 
own self bore our sins in His own body on the 
tree,” and Isaiah declares, “Surely our sicknesses | 
He hath borne, and our pains—He hath carried 
them.” But, as Leeser translates, “only owr sick- 
ness did He bear,” having none of His own. 
Again, in the 4th verse of Dr. Young’s trans- 
lation cited above, we read, “and Jehovah hath 
caused to meet on Him the punishment of us all.” 
Qne writer inquiries, on this point, “What are 
the punishments of sin?” and then says, in sub- 
stance, all will admit that sin is punished by soul- 
condemnation, remorse, mental anxiety and fre- 
quently by sickness. . . and believe these are re- 
mitted because of vicarious Atonement. By what 
rule of Scripture or reason is the last-mentioned 
punishment severed from the rest? Mark the 
prophet’s words, “Jehovah hath caused to meet on 
Him the punishment of us all.”’ Since sickness is 
a part of that punishment, it is demonstrated by 
the immutable Word of God that sickness is in- 
cluded in the Atonement. He then asks, “Is it true 
that God will give deliverance from every penalty 
and consequence of sin except one, and that this 
one (sickness) must inevitably remain to the bit- 
ter end? Away with such a thought! Isaiah af- 
firms that the entire punishment of us all was 


22 - CHRIST THE HEALER 


caused to meet on Him. . . He testified ‘It is fin- 
ished.’ There was nothing incomplete about the 
work of our mighty Jesus.” I might add to this 
that, were it otherwise, the prophet should have 
said, ‘Jehovah hath caused to meet on Him only 
a part of the punishment of us all.” 


THE CROSS A PERFECT REMEDY FOR THE WHOLE MAN 


“Jesus went to the cross, spirit, soul and body, 
to redeem man, spirit, soul and body. Therefore, 
the Cross is the centre of the plan of salvation for 
man, spirit, soul and body. 

Every form of sickness and disease known to 
man was included, and many of them even men- 
tioned particularly, in the “curse of the law,” 
(Deut. 28:15-62, and other scriptures.) Now, in 
Galatians 3:18, we have the positive statement 
that “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of 
the law, being made a curse for us, for it is writ- 
ten, Cursed is every one that hangeth on the tree.” 
What plainer declaration could we have than that 
Christ, Who was born under the law to redeem 
us, bore its curse,'and therefore did redeem us 
from all sickness and disease. Here it is stated 
that it was on the cross that Jesus redeemed us 
from the law’s curse. In.other words, He redeem- 
ed us from the following diseases, specified in 
Deuteronomy, “consumption”  (tuberculosis,) 
“fever,” “inflammation,” “the botch of Egypt,” 
“emerods,” “scab,” “itch,” “madness” (insanity), 
“blindness,” “plagues,” “all the diseases of 


£ 


HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 23 


Egypt,” “also every sickness and every plague 
which is not written in the book of this law.” 
This would include cancer, influenza, mumps, 
measles and every other modern disease. If Christ 
redeemed us from the curse of the law, and sick- 
ness is included in the curse, surely He redeemed 
us from sickness.’ 


REDEMPTION SYNONYMOUS WITH CALVARY 


Redemption is synonymous with Calvary, there- 


' fore we are redeemed from the entire curse, body, 


soul and spirit, solely through His Atonement. 
Now, since disease is a part of the curse, how 
could God justly remove this part of the curse 
by healing the sick without first redeeming us 
from it? Again, since “Christ redeemed us from 
the curse of the law,” how can God justify us and 
at the same time require us to remain under the 
law’s curse, when, as the Apostle says, “ye are not 
under the law, but under grace?” (Romans 6:14.) 
In short, why should anyone remain under the 
law’s curse who is not under the law? To do so, 
would be the same as putting a man in prison for 
life after he had been proven innocent and the 
court had justified him from the charge of murder. 
Paul argues, in Romans the 3rd chapter, that 
“God set forth Christ to be a propitiation . . 
that He might be just and the justifier of him 
which believeth in Jesus.” In other words, were 
it not for the Atonement, God would be unjust in 
justifying the sinner; and likewise He would be 


24 CHRIST THE HEALER 


unjust in healing the sick without first redeeming 
them from the sickness. The fact that God ever 
healed anyone is to me the best of proof that 
healing was provided by the Atonement. If heal- 
ing was not provided for all in redemption, how 
did all in the whole multitude obtain from Christ 
the healing that God did not provide? ‘He healed 
them all.” 
AN IMPORTANT QUESTION 

If the body were not included in redemption, 
how can there be a resurrection? How can “cor- 
ruption put on incorruption,” or “mortal put on 
immortality?” If we have not been redeemed 
from sickness, would we not be subject to disease 
in Heaven, if it were possible to be resurrected 
irrespective of redemption? Some one has well 
remarked, ““Man’s future destiny being both spir- 
itual and bodily, his redemption must be both a 
itual and bodily.” 

Why should not the “last Adam” take away ali 
that the “first Adam” brought upon us? 

Now let us consider a few Gospel parallels. 


“THE INNER MAN” “THE OUTER MAN” 
Adam, by his fall, brought Adam, by hi fall, 
sin into our souls. brought disease into our 
| bodies. 
Sin is therefore the work Disease is therefore the 
of the devil. work of the devil. Jesus 


“went about doing good, and 
healing all that were op- 
pressed of the devil.” 


HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 25 


Jesus was “manifested to 
destroy the works of the 
devil” in the soul. 


The redemptive name 

“JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU” 

reveals His redemptive pro- 
vision for our souls. 


On Calvary Jesus “bare 
our sins.” 


He was made “sin for us” 
(II Cor. 5:21) when “He 
bare our sins,” (I Peter 
2:24). 


“Who His own self bare 
our sins in His body on the 
tree.” 


“Who forgiveth all thine 
iniquities.” 

“For ye are bought with 
a price: therefore glorify 
God in your .. . spirit.” 


The spirit is bought with 
a price. 


Is remaining in sin the 
way to glorify God in your 
spirit? 


Since He “bare our sins,” 
how many must it pe God’s 
will to save, when they 
come to Him? “Whosoever 
believeth.” 


Jesus was “manifested to 
destroy the works of the 
devil” in the body. 


The redemptive name 
“JEHOVAH-RAPHA” re- 
veals His redemptive pro- 
vision for our bodies. 


On Calvary Jesus bare 
our sicknesses.” 


He was “made a curse for 
us.” (Gal. 3:18) when He 
“bare our sicknesses.” (Mat- 
thew 8:17). 


“By whose stripes ye 


were healed.” 


“Who healeth all thy dis- 
eases.” 


“For ye are bought with 
a price: therefore glorify 
God in your body... 
(I Cor. 6:20). 


The body is bought with a 
price. 


Is remaining sick the 
way to glorify God in your 
body? 


Since He “bare our sick- 
nesses,” how many must it 
be God’s will to heal, when 
they come to Him? “He 
healed them all.” 


26 CHRIST THE HEALER 


“As God ‘made Him to 
be sin for us who knew no 
sin’ ’’——Rev. A. J. Gordon. 


“Since our Substitute 
bore our sins, did He not do 
so that we might not bare 
them?”’—Rev. A. J. Gordon. 


“Christ bore our sins that 
we might be delivered from 
them. Not SYMPATHY— 
a suffering with, but SUB- 
STITUTION—a suffering 
for.”—Rev. A. J. Gordon. 


“If the fact that Jesus 
‘bore our sins in His own 
body on the tree’ be a valid 
reason why we should all 
trust Him now for the for- 
giveness of our sins, 


Faith for salvation “com- 
eth by hearing” the Gospel 
—He “bare our sins.” 


Therefore, Preach the 
Gospel (that He bore our 
sins) to every creature,” 


Christ’s promise for the 
soul (“shall be saved’’) is 
in the great commission 
(Mark 16). 


In connection with the 
ordinance of baptism, the 


“So God made Him to be 
sick for us who knew no 
sickness.”—-Rev. A. J. Gor- 
don. 


“Since our Substitute 
bore our sicknesses, did He 
not do so that we might not 
bare them?”—Rev. A. J. 
Gordon. 


Christ bore our sicknesses 
that we might be delivered 
from them. Not SYM- 
PATHY—a suffering with, 
but SUBSTITUTION—a 
suffering for. 


why is not the fact that 
He ‘bore our sicknesses’ an 
equally valid reason why we 
should all trust Him now to 
heal our bodies?” (Writer 
unknown). 


Faith for healing “cometh 
by hearing”—He “bare our 
sicknesses.” 


and “the Gospel (that He 
bore our sicknesses) to 
every creature.” 


Christ’s promise for the 
body (“shall recover”) is 
in the great commission. 
(Mark 16). 


In connection with the 
ordinance of anointing with 


HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT. az 


Bible teaches that he that 
believeth and is baptized 
shall be saved (Mark 16). 


We are commanded to 
baptize in Christ’s name. 


In the Lord’s Supper the 
wine is taken “in remem- 
brance” of His death for 
our souls. (I Cor. 11:25). 


The sinner is to repent 
before believing the Gospel 
“unto righteousness.” 


Water baptism stands for 
total surrender and obedi- 
ence. 


The sinner must accept 
God’s promise as true be- 
fore he can feel the joy of 
salvation. 


“As many as received 
Him ... wereborn... 
of God.” (St. John 1:12-13), 


oil, the Bible teaches that 
he that believeth and is 
anointed shall be healed. 
(James 5:14). 


We are commanded to 
anoint “in the name of the 
Lord.” (James 5:14). 


In the Lord’s Supper the 
bread is eaten “in remem- 
brance” of His death for 
our bodies. (I Cor. 11:23- 
24). 


James 5:16 says, “Con- 
fess, therefore, your sins 
. . - that ye may be 
healed.’ 


Anointing with oil is the 
symbol and sign of conse- 
cration. 


The sick must accept 
God’s promise as true be- 
fore he can feel well. 


“As many as touched Him 
were made whole.” (Mark 
6:56). 


I will now cite one out of many hundreds of 


cases of sickness and affliction that have been 
healed while the sufferers listened to the preach- 
ing on the subject of healing in the Atonement. 
Their healing came through their own faith be- 
fore having an opportunity of being anointed. 


28 CHRIST THE HEALER 


When but a child of eight years, Mrs. Clara 
Rupert of Lima, Ohio, had such a severe case of 
whooping-cough that she ruptured the muscles of 
one eye, leaving it entirely blind, and so dead that 
during all the years that followed she could rub 
her finger on the bare eyeball without pain. She 
said that on windy days, when particles would 
blow into the eye, it caused her no suffering. 


JUST BECAUSE THE BIBLE SAYS SO 


While listening to a sermon on the Atonement, 
during our revival in Lima, Ohio, she said in her 
heart: “If that is true, and it is because the Bible 
says so, then I am just as sure of receiving sight 
in my blind eye tonight when I go to the altar as 
I was sure of salvation when I went to the Metho- 
dist altar several years ago and was saved. Ac- 
cordingly, with this logical reasoning, she came 
to the altar, and while we were praying with oth- 
ers she asked God to heal her. Before we had a 
chance to anoint her, she was on her feet weeping, 
and walked back and threw her arms around her 
father’s neck, the audience wondering why she 
left the altar without being anointed. Her father 
said: ‘What is the matter, daughter?” and she re- 
plied, “My eye!” He said: “Why, is it paining 
you?” She said: “No, I can see perfectly!” 

A few months later, while we were holding a 
revival in St. Paul, Minn., we met this woman 
and her husband, who were there attending the 
Bible school, preparing for work for the Master. 


HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 29 


Her husband wanted to preach the Gospel of 
Christ, Who had so graciously healed his wife. 

Almost daily in our revivals testimonies are 
given by those who have been healed while sitting 
in their seats listening to the Gospel. 


WHAT EMINENT MEN HAVE TO SAY 


These views on healing in the Atonement are 
not new and peculiar only to myself. Many of 
the most godly and able teachers of the Church 
have seen and taught them. In addition to those 
teachers already quoted, I will add a few words 
from Dr. Torrey and others. 

Dr. R. A. Torrey, in his book on “Divine Heal- 
ing” declares: “The atoning death of Jesus Christ 
secured for us not only physical healing, but the 
resurrection and perfecting and glorifying of our 
bodies . . . The Gospel of Christ has salvation 
for the body as well as for the soul .. . Just as 
one gets the first-fruits of his spiritual salvation 
in the life that now is, so we get the first-fruits 
of our physical salvation in the life that now is 
. - - Individual believers, whether Elders or not, 
have the privilege and the ‘duty to ‘pray one for 
another’ in case of sickness with the expectation 
that God will hear and heal.” 

Dr. R. E. Stanton, a former moderator of the 
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, 
gives the following in his Gospel Parallelisms: “It 
is my aim to show that the Atonement of Christ 
lays the foundation equally for deliverance from 


30 CHRIST THE HEALER 


sin and for deliverance from disease. That com- 
plete provision has been made for both; that in 
the exercise of faith under the conditions pre- 
scribed, we have the same reason to believe that 
the body may be delivered from sickness that we 
have that the soul shall be delivered from sin; in 
short, that both branches of the deliverance stand 
on the same ground, and that it is necessary to 
include both in any true conception of what the 
gospel offers to mankind. The atoning sacrifice 
of Christ covers the physical as well as the spir- 
itual needs of the race . .. Healing of the body 
is not, therefore, a ‘side-issue,’ as some represent 
it. It is no more this than the healing of the soul 
is a ‘side-issue.’ They are both but parts of the 
same Gospel, based equally upon the same great 
Atonement.” 


THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH ON DIVINE HEALING 


In the report of the Commission on spiritual 
healing appointed by the Episcopal Church, spon- 
sored by Bishop Reese, who for many years has 
practiced the healing ministry, and who was 
- Chairman of the Commission, is the following 
statement: ‘The healing of the body is an essen- 
tial element of the Gospel, and must be preached 
and practiced . . . God wills our health, that the 
Church, the ‘Body of Christ,’ has the same com- 
mission and the same power as “The Head,’ that 
we churchmen, with this true conception of God 
as Creative Love, must now give a sinning and 


HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 31 


suffering world this full Gospel of salvation from 
sin and its inevitable consequences.” 

These conclusions were arrived at by this schol- 
arly Commission after three years of study and re- 
search. 

Bishop Charles H. Brent of the Episcopal 
Church, who as Head of all Chaplains in France, 
led the religious life of our armies overseas, af- 
firms: ‘“He who waives away the healing power of 
Christ as belonging only to the New Testament 
times is not preaching the whole Gospel. God was, 
and Is, the Saviour of the body as well as the 
soul.” 

James Moore Hickson pleads: “A living Church 
is one in which the Living Christ lives and walks, 
doing through its members what He did in the 
days of His flesh. It must, therefore, be a healing 
Church as well as a soul-saving Church... 
Spiritual healing is sacramental. It is the exten- 
sion through the members of His mystical body 
of His own incarnate life.’ 

The late able writers, Dr. A. B. Simpson, An- 
drew Murray, A. T. Pierson, Dr. A. J. Gordon, 
and many present writers whom we might quote, 
have been teachers of healing in the Atonement. 
An unknown writer has said: ‘On the cross of 
Calvary Jesus has nailed the proclamation, 
‘Deliver from going down to the pit (grave) for 
I have found an ‘Atonement.’” (Job 33:24) 

Isaiah begins the Redemption Chapter with the 
question “Who hath believed our report, and to 


32 CHRIST THE HEALER 


whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” And 
the report follows that He bore our sins and sick- 
nesses. The answer to the question is, only those 
who have heard the report could believe it, be- 
cause “faith cometh by hearing.” Since Jesus 
died to save and to heal it is surely worth report- 
ing. 

The purpose of this sermon is to prove that 
healing is provided by the Atonement and is there- 
fore a part of the Gospel which Christ commanded 
to be preached 

To “all the world,” 
To “all nations,” 
To “every creature,” 
With “all Power,” 
Throughout “all the days, 
Even unto the end of the (present) age.” 


IS HEALING FOR ALL? 


Is it still the will of God, as in the past, to heal 
all who have need of healing, and to fulfil the 
number of their days? 

The greatest barrier to the faith of many seek- 
ing bodily healing in our day is the uncertainty in 
their minds as to it being the will of God to heal 
all. Nearly every one knows that God does heal 
some, but there is much in modern theology that 
keeps the people from knowing what the Bible 
clearly teaches—that healing is provided for all. 
It is impossible to boldly claim by faith a blessing 
which we are not sure God offers, because the 
power of God can be claimed only where the will 
of God is known. 

It would be next to impossible to get a sinner to 
“believe unto righteousness” before you had fully 
convinced him that it was God’s will to save him. 
Faith begins where the will of God is known. If 
it is God’s will to heal only some of those who need 
healing, then none have any basis for faith, unless 
they have a special revelation that they are among 
the favored ones. Faith must rest on the will of 
God alone, not on our desires or wishes. Appro- 


34 CHRIST THE HEALER 


priating faith is not believing that God can but 
that God will. Because of not knowing it to be a 
redemptive privilege for all, most of those in our 
day, when seeking healing, add to their petition, 
“If it be Thy will.” 


A CORRECTED THEOLOGY 


Among all those who sought healing from 
Christ during His earthly ministry, we read of 
only one who had this kind of theology. This was 
the leper, who said, “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou 
canst make me clean.” The first thing Christ did 
was to correct his theology by saying, “J will, be 
thou clean.” Christ’s “I will’ cancelled his “7f,’’ 
adding to his faith that Christ could heal him, the 
faith that He would. 

The theology of this leper, before Christ en- 
lightened him, is almost universal today, because 
this part of the gospel is so seldom and so frag- 
mentarily preached. 

We see, from almost every conceivable angle 
throughout the Scriptures, that there is no doc- 
trine more clearly taught than that it zs God’s will 
to heal all who have need of healing, and that they 
may fulfil the number of their days, according to 
His promise. Of course, we mean all who are 
properly taught and who meet the conditions pre- 
scribed in the Word. Now, I hear someone say, 
“If healing is for all then we shall never die.” 
Why not? Divine healing goes no further than 
the promise of God. He does not promise that we 


IS HEALING FOR ALL? 35 


shall never die, but He says, “I will take sickness 
away from the midst of thee . . . the number of 
thy days I will fulfil.” (Ex. 23:25, 26.) 
The days of our years are threescore years and ten. 
(Psa. 90:10) 
Take me not away in the midst of my days. (Psa. 102:24) 

Why shouldst thou die before thy time? (Eccl. 7:17.) 

Then some one may ask, Well, how is a man go- 
ing to die? 

Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to 
their dust. (Psa. 104:29.) 

The Rev. P. Gavin Duffy writes on this point, 
“He has cllotted to man a certain span of life, and 
His will is that that life shall be lived out. I want 
you to recallthat all those He called back from the 
dead were young people who had not lived out 
their fulness of years; and in that very fact we 
may well see His protest against premature death. 
. . - Of course, we must not expect that the old 
shall be physically young, but if the allotted span 
has not been spent we have a right to claim God’s 
gift of health; and, even though it be past, if it be 
His Will that we should continue here for a time 
longer, it is equally His Will that we should do so 
in good health.” 

Death comes, and then we blame our God, 

And weakly say, “Thy will be done;” 

But never underneath the sod 

Has God imprisoned any one. 

God does not send disease, or crime, 

Or carelessness, or fighting clans; 

And when we die before our time, 

The fault is man’s. 


36 ‘CHRIST THE HEALER 


He is a God of life, not death; 
He is one God that gives us birth; 
He has not shortened by a breath 
The life of any on the earth; 
And He would have us dwell within 
The world our full allotted years. 
So blame not God—for our own sin 
Makes our own tears. 


Douglas Malloch. 
READ THE WILL AND KNOW 


If we would know what is in a will, let us read 
the will. If we want to know God’s will on any 
subject, let us read His will. Suppose a lady 
should say, “My husband, who was very rich, has 
passed away; now, I wish I knew whether he left 
me anything in the will.”. I would say to her, 
“Why don’t you read the will and see?” The 
word “testament,” legally speaking, means a per- 
son’s will. The Bible contains God’s last will and 
testament, in which He bequeaths to us all the 
blessings of redemption; and since it is His “last 
will and testament,” anything later is a forgery. 
A man never writes a new will after he is dead. 
If healing is in God’s will for us, then to say that 
the age of miracles is past is virtually saying what 
is the opposite of the truth, that a will is no good 
after the death of the testator. Jesus is not only 
the testator, who died; He was resurrected, and is 
also the mediator of the will. He is our lawyer, 


so to speak, and He will not beat us out of the Will, 


IS HEALING FOR ALL? 37 


as some earthly lawyers do. He is our Represent- 
ative at the right hand of God. 

For the answer to the question under considera- 
tion, let us look away from modern tradition and 
go to the Word of God, which is a revelation of 
His will. 

In the 15th chapter of Exodus, just after the 
passage of the Red sea, which typified our redemp- 
tion, and “‘was written for our admonition,” God 
gave His first promise to heal. This promise was 
for all. God named the conditions, the conditions 
were met, and we read: “He brought them forth 
also with silver and gold, and there was not one 
feeble person among all their tribes.”’ It is here 
that God gave the covenant of healing, revealed 
by and sealed with His first covenant and Redemp- 
tive name, Jehovah-Rapha, translated, “I am the 
Lord that healeth thee.” This is God’s word, 
“settled in heaven,” a never-changing fact con- 
cerning God. 


WHO IS AUTHORIZED TO CHANGE GOD’S WILL? 


To say that this privilege of health is not for 
God’s people today, is to change God’s “I Am” to 
“T Was” Jehovah-Rapha. Who has the authority 
to change God’s Redemptive names? Instead of 
abandoning His office as Healer, He is “Jesus 
Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever,” 
under this first covenant name, as well as under 
the other six. The blessings revealed by His Re- 
demptive names, as we have seen in the preceding 


38 ' CHRIST THE HEALER 


sermon, were provided by the Atonement, when 
He “tasted death for every man,’ and therefore 
cannot be confined to Israel. This 15th chapter 
of Exodus shows us that at least in that age of 
the world, 3500 years ago, God did not leave the - 
people in doubt concerning His willingness to heal 
all, 


A NATION WITHOUT ONE FEEBLE PERSON 


This universal state of health in the nation of 
Israel continued as long as God’s conditions were 
met. Then, twenty years later (Numbers 16:46- 
50) when, because of sin the plague destroyed 
14,700, they again met conditions, the plague was 
stayed, and He was still Jehovah-Rapha, the Heal- 
er, not to some, but to all. It would not be true 
that the plague was stayed if it remained on even 
one of them. This state of health again remained 
uninterrupted until nineteen years later, when 
the people, not satisfied with God’s way for them, 
chosen in love and mercy, spake against God and 
against Moses, and they were cursed with the 
fiery serpents. When they again met God’s con- 
ditions, by confessing their sins, His word through 
Moses to them was, “It shall come to pass that 
every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it 
(the type of Calvary) shall live.” So, again, at 
this time, the Scriptures show us that it was still 
God’s will to heal, not some, but all. Every one 
that was bitten lived by beholding the brazen ser- 
pent, which was a typical foreshadowing of the 


IS HEALING FOR ALL? 39 


coming sacrifice upon Calvary in our behalf. 

The Psalmist David, in his time, understood 
healing to be a universal privilege. In the 86th 
Psalm he says, “For thou, Lord, art good... 
plenteous in mercy unto all them call upon Thee.” 
We shall see, in the following sermon, that healing 
was one of the most prominent mercies through- 
out the Scriptures, and that the sick, in the New 
Testament, asked for ‘mercy’? when seeking heal- 

ing from Christ; for God’s mercy covers man’s 
' physical, as well as spiritual, nature. Therefore, 
Jesus, according to the Old Testament promise, 
showed that He was “plenteous in mercy,” by heal- 
ing, not some, but all who came to Him. Again, 
in the 103rd Psalm, we see that David believed 
that the mercy of healing was as universal a priv- 
ilege as the mercy of forgiveness. He calls upon 
his soul to bless God, “Who forgiveth all thine in- 
iquities, Who healeth all thy diseases.” “Who 
healeth all” is as permanent as “Who forgiveth 
all,’ for the identical language is used with ref- 
erence to both mercies. 

In the 91st Psalm, God says concerning the man 
“that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High 
... with long life will I satisfy him.” Is the 
privilege of dwelling in the secret place only for a 
few or for all? If it is for all, then God’s prom- 
ise to all is, “With long life will I satisfy him.” 
God would have to break this promise to be un- 
willing to heal His obedient children in middle 
life. If dwelling in the secret place was possible 


40 CHRIST THE HEALER 


in a darker age of the world, surely it is in this 
better age of grace, during which “He is able to 
make all grace abound” towards each of His chil- 
dren. The holy prophets of the Old Testament 
“prophesied of the grace that should come to us.” 


CALVARY MEETS ALL MAN’S NEEDS 


We have seen, in the great Redemption Chapter, 
the 58rd of Isaiah, that it is owr sicknesses, as 
well as our sins that Jesus bore, making one priv- 
ilege as universal as the other. What Jesus did 
for individuals who came to Him for blessings was 
for them, but what He did on Calvary was for all. 

It is clear that in all of these instances cited 
from the Old Testament it was God’s will to heal 
all who met the conditions. Wherever forgive- 
ness was offered, healing was also offered. Let 
those who teach the people that God’s will in the 
matter of healing is not the same today answer 
the question, ‘Why would God withdraw this Old 
Testament mercy from this better dispensation?” 
Is it not to be expected that He, Who “hath re- 
served better things for us” and Who is “the same 
yesterday, today, and forever” should continue 
these same mercies throughout this better dis- 
pensation? Let us now look in the New Testa- 
ment and see. 


CHRIST THE EXPRESSION OF GOD’S WILL 


There is no better way of ascertaining the prop- 
er answer to the question before us than by read- 


IS HEALING FOR ALL? 41 


ing the Gospels, which record the teachings and 
the works of Christ. He was the expression of 
the Father’s will. His life was both a revelation 
and a manifestation of the unchanging love and 
will of God. He literally acted out the will of God 
for Adam’s race. He said, “I came down from 
heaven, not to do my will, but the will of Him that 
sent Me,” and that “the Father that dwelleth in 
Me, He doeth the works.” He also said, “He that 
‘ hath seen Me hath seen the Father,” therefore, 
when He healed the multitudes who thronged 
Him, day after day, we see the Father revealing 
His will. When “He laid His hands on every one 
of them, and healed them” He was doing and re- 
vealing the will of God for our bodies. Perhaps 
no one would be more conservative than the schol- 
ars of the Episcopalian church, and yet, the com- 
mission appointed to study the subject of spiritual 
healing and report back to the church, after three 
years of study and research in both the Bible and 
history, say in their report, “The healing of the 
sick by Jesus was done as a revelation of God’s 
will for man.”’ Because they discovered that His 
will is fully revealed, they further say, ““No longer 
can the Church pray for the sick with the faith- 
destroying, qualifying phrase ‘If it be Thy will.’ ” 

The message everywhere taught in the Gospels 
is one of complete healing for soul and body for 
all who come to Him. Many today say, “I believe 
in healing, but I do not believe it is for every one.” 
If it is not, how could we pray the prayer of faith 


A2 CHRIST THE HEALER 


for any, or even for one whom it is God’s will to 
heal, until we have a revelation by the Spirit that 
we are praying for the right one? If it is not 
God’s will to heal all, then no man can ascertain 
the will of God for himself from the Bible. Are 
we to understand from these teachers that we 
must close our Bibles and get our revelation direct 
from the Spirit, before we can pray for the sick, 
because the will of God cannot be ascertained from 
the Scriptures? 

This would be virtually teaching that the whole 
of the Divine activity on the line of healing would 
have to be governed by the direct revelation of the 
Spirit, instead of by the Scriptures. How are 
the sick to be healed if there is no Gospel (good 
news) of healing to proclaim to them as a basis 
for their faith? Or, since faith is expecting God 
to keep His promise, how can there be faith for 
healing if there is no promise in the Bible that the 
sick can apply to himself? The Scriptures tell us 
how God heals the sick. ‘“‘He sendeth His Word 
and healeth them and delivereth them from their 
graves.” (Psa. 107:20.) “ ... the word of God 
which effectually worketh” in them that believe, 
and is “health to all their flesh.” (See I Thes,. 2: 
12; Prov. 4:22.) 


FAITH RESTS ON MORE THAN MERE ABILITY 


If a millionaire were to appear before an au- 
dience of a thousand people, with the announce- 
ment that he was able to give each one a thousand 


IS HEALING FOR ALL? 43 


dollars, this would be no basis for any to have 
faith for a thousand dollars, because faith cannot 
rest on ability. If he should go further, and say, 
“T will give fifty of you a thousand dollars each,” 
even then there is no basis for any one in the au- 
dience to have faith for the thousand. dollars. 
Were you to ask one of them if he or she were 
“fully assured” of receiving a thousand dollars 
from the millionaire, the answer would be, “I need 
‘the money, and hope I am among the lucky ones, 
but I cannot be sure.”’ But, should the millionaire 
say, “It is my will to give all a thousand dollars 
each,” then every one in the audience would have 
a ground for faith, and would undoubtedly say to 
the rich man, “Thank you! I’ll take my money.” 

Now, supposing God were a respecter of per- 
sons, and that it was His will to heal only some of 
those who need healing, let us take a glance 
through the Gospels, and see how the friends of 
the sick decided which of the sick to bring to Him 
for healing. ‘Now, when the sun was setting, all 
they that had any sick with divers diseases, 
brought them unto Him; and He laid His hands on 
every one of them and healed them.” (Luke 4:40.) 
Here the unlucky ones, if there were any, were 
brought, and all healed the same as the others. 
Surely, it was God doing and revealing His own 
will. If you had been there and were sick, you 
would have been brought, and would have been 
healed with the rest, because they brought them 
all. Matthew, in his record of this same instance, 


44 CHRIST THE HEALER 


tells why Jesus made no exceptions. “He healed 
them all, that it might be fulfilled which was spok- 
en by Esaias, the prophet, saying, “Himself took 
our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.” The 
word “our”? means everybody, in the sacrifice of 
Calvary, and it therefore requires the healing of 
all, to fulfil the prophecy. Not only on this occa- 
sion, but on every occasion since, down until today, 
He heals the sick “that it might be fulfilled which 
was spoken by Esaias, the Prophet, saying, Him- 
self took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.” 

Let the sick go through the Gospels and note the 
all’s and the every’s and they will see that the re- 
demptive blessing of healing was for all, and that 
no one ever appealed in vain to Jesus for healing. 
There never was a multitude large enough to have 
in it even one that Jesus wanted to remain sick, 
and would not heal. 


JESUS HEALED EVERYTHING AND ALL 


And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching. . . and 
preaching the Gospel . . . and healing all manner of siek- 
nesses, and all manner of disease among the people. And 
His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought un- 
to Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases 
and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, 
and those that had palsy; and He healed them (all—Mof- 
fat’s translation) . . . And there followed Him great mul- 
titudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and 
from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond 
Jordan. (Matt. 4:23-25.) 

And Jesus went about all the cities and villages teach- 
ing ... and preaching the Gospel .. . and healing every 


IS HEALING FOR ALL? 45 


sickness and every disease among the people. But when 
He saw the multitudes He was moved with compassion on 
them . . . And when He had called unto Him His twelve 
disciples He gave them power against unclean spirits to 
cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all 
manner of disease. (Matt. 9:35 to Matt. 10:1.) 

Note, here, that it was the multitudes coming 
for healing that necessitated the thrusting forth 
of new laborers into His harvest to preach and to 
heal. It was not long until seventy more were 
needed, and were sent forth to heal as well as to 
preach. 

But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew Himself from 
thence, and great multitudes followed Him, and He healed 
them all. (Matt. 12:15.) 

And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and 
was moved with compassion toward them, and healed their 
sick. (Matt. 14:14.) 

And when they were gone over they came into the land 
of Gennesaret, and when the men of that place had knowl- 
edge of Him they sent out into all that country round 
about, and brought unto Him all that were diseased; and 
besought Him that they might only touch the hem of His 
garment, and as many as touched were made perfectly 
whole. (Matt. 14:34-36.) 

And a great multitude of the people out of all Judea 
and Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, 
which came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases, 
and they that were vexed with unclean spirits, and they 
were healed, and the whole multitude sought to touch Him 
for there went virtue out of Him, and healed them all. 
(Luke 6:17-19.) 

We see throughout the Gospels that, in bringing 
the sick to Christ for healing, it was repeatedly 


stated that they brought them all, which included 


46 CHRIST THE HEALER 


all the unlucky ones if there were any. If, accord- 
ing to modern tradition, it is God’s will for the 
sick to patiently remain so for His glory, is it not 
strange that there should not be even one of this 
class in all these multitudes brought to Christ for 
healing? By healing the epileptic (Mark 9:14-29) 
Jesus proved it to be the Father’s will to heal even 
this one whom the disciples, divinely commis- 
sioned to cast out demons failed to deliver. We 
see by this verse that it would have been wrong 
to call in question and to teach God’s unwillingness 
to heal because of this failure on the part of the 
disciples. Jesus, by healing him, shows them that 
the failure proved nothing but unbelief. Peter, 
after three years of constant association with the 
Lord, describes His earthly ministry in this one 
brief statement: “God anointed Jesus of Naza- 
reth with the Holy Ghost and with Power, Who 
went about doing good, and healing all that were 
oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him.” 
(Acts 10:38.) . 

So, in all the above, and many other Scriptures 
which show He healed them all, we have the will 
of God revealed for our bodies, and the answer to 
the question, “Is healing for all?” 


COMPASSIONATE LOVE JESUS RULING MOTIVE 


Many, in our day, have been taught that Christ 
performed miracles of healing just to show His 
power and to prove His deity. This may be true, 
but it is far from being all the truth. He would 


IS HEALING FOR ALL? 47 


not have had to heal all to show His power; a few 
outstanding cases would prove this. But the 
Scriptures show that he healed because of His 
compassion and to fulfil prophecy. Others teach 
that He healed the sick to make Himself known, 
but in Matt. 12:15, 16, we read, “Great multitudes 
followed Him, and He healed them all, and charged 
them that they should not make Him known.” 

_ Some, who have to admit that Jesus healea all 
who came to Him, hold that Isaiah’s prophecy con- 
cerning His bearing our sicknesses refers only to 
. His earthly ministry; that this universal mani- 
festation of His compassion was special, and not a 
revelation of the unchanging will of God. But 
the Bible clearly teaches that He only “began to do 
and teach” what was not only to be continued, but 
augmented, after His ascension. 

After Christ, for three years, had healed all that 
came to Him, He said, “It is expedient (profit- 
able) for you that I go away.” 

How could this be true if His going away would 
modify His ministry to the afflicted? 

Anticipating the unbelief with which this won- 
derful promise would be regarded, He prefaced 
His promise to continue the same and greater 
works in answer to our prayers after His exalta- 
tion, with the words “Verily, verily.” “Verily, 
verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me, 
the works that I do shall he do also; and greater 
works than these shall he do, because I go unto My 
Father, and (how are we to do them?) whatso- 


48 CHRIST THE HEALER 


ever ye ask the Father in My name that will J do, 
that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” 
(John 14:12, 13.) 

In other words, we are to do them by asking 
Him to do them. 

He did not say “less works,” but “the works” 
and “greater” works.” 

To me, this promise from the lips of Christ is a 
complete answer to all opposers and to all their 
books and articles against Divine healing. 

“It is written” was Christ’s policy when resist- 
ing the devil. 

Wm. Jennings Bryan well asks, “Since Christ 
said ‘It is written,’ and the devil said ‘It is writ- 
ten,’ why can’t the preacher say ‘It is written?’ ” 


THE WISDOM OF THE EARLY CHURCH 


The early Church took Christ at His word and 
prayed unitedly for signs and wonders of healing, 
until “the place was shaken where they were as- 
sembled together,” and then “they brought forth 
the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and 
couches ... There came also a multitude out of 
the cities round about Jerusalem, bringing sick 
folks, and they which were vexed with unclean 
spirits, and they were healed every one.” “All 
that Jesus began to do and to teach” He was here 
continuing from the right hand of God through 
“His Body, the Church,” according to His promise. 
Some say, “Oh, that was only in the beginning of 
the Acts, for the purpose of confirming their word 


IS HEALING FOR ALL? 49 


regarding Christ’s resurrection. 

Let us, then, turn to the last chapter of Acts, 
and read how, thirty years later, after Paul, on 
the island of Melita, had healed the father of 
Publius, “All the other sick people in the island 
came, and were cured.” (Weymouth.) 

SO we see, again, at this time, in the very last 
chapter of the Acts of the Holy Ghost, which is 
the only unfinished book of the New Testament, it 
is still the will of God to heal; not some, but all. 


THE ACTS OF THE HOLY GHOST 


The Holy Spirit, Whom Christ sent as His Suc- 
cessor and Executive, took possession of the 
Church, which is the Body of Christ, and showed 
the same healing power after Pentecost that 
Christ had displayed before, and vast multitudes 
were healed. As in the Gospels, so in the Acts, 
we never read of any one asking for healing and 
being denied. Men have named this book the 
“Acts of the Apostles.” A better and a truer name 
for this book would be “The Acts of the Holy 
Ghost,” because it records the acts of the Holy 
Ghost through others as well as the Apostles. 
Phillip and Stephen, who were not Apostles, were 
as gloriously used as Peter and John. The Holy 
Spirit came to execute for us all the blessings 
purchased by Christ’s redemption, and pledged by 
the seven redemptive names. He has never lost 
any of His interest in the work He came to do. 
If you wish to know how He wants to act today, 


50 CHRIST THE HEALER 


read how He did act. The book of Acts shows us 
how He wants to act throughout “all the days, 
even unto the end of the age.” 

It was the Holy Spirit Who worked all the mir- 
acles of healing at the hands of Christ. Jesus 
never undertook a miracle until, in answer to His 
prayer, the Holy Spirit, the Miracle-Worker, came 
upon Him, and then, in full reliance upon the Spir- 
it, He cast out devils and healed the sick. The 
miracles of Christ were all done by the Spirit in 
advance of His own dispensation, or before He 
had yet entered officially into office. Why would 
the Holy Spirit, Who healed all the sick before 
His dispensation began, do less after He entered 
office? Did the Miracle-Worker enter office to do 
away with miracles during His own dispensation? 

Is the teaching and the practice of the Church 
in the matter of healing in this Laodicean (luke- 
warm) period of her history a truer expression of 
the will of God than the teaching and practice of 
the early Church while under the full sway of the 
Spirit? Decidedly not! I hesitate not to say that 
modern theology has robbed the Holy Spirit of a 
part of His ministry. 

Now, in summing up what we have thus far 
written, we have a revelation from many angles of 


CHRIST’S MERCIFUL ATTITUDE TOWARD OUR SICK- 
NESSES AND INFIRMITIES SINCE HIS EX- 
ALTATION AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD 


We deal now, not with the past, but only with 


IS HEALING FOR ALL? 51 


Christ’s present attitude towards sickness and dis- 
ease. 

1. Christ’s present attitude is fully revealed by 
His redemptive name Jehovah-Rapha. His re- 
demptive names cannot change. All will admit 
that His other six redemptive names are a rev- 
elation of His present attitude in the matter of be- 
stowing the blessing that each name was given to 
reveal. By what logic, then, can we suppose that 
-He has abandoned His office as Healer, revealed 
by the name Jehovah-Rapha? 

2. His present attitude is again fully revealed 
by His own definite promise to continue and aug- 
ment His healing ministry in answer to the pray- 
er of believers while He is at the right hand of 
God. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that be- 
lieveth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; 
and greater works than these shall ye do, because 
I go unto My Father. And whatsoever ye shall 
ask in My name that will I do that the Father may 
be glorified in the Son.” (St. John 14:12, 18.) 

8. His present attitude is revealed by His own 
fulfilment of the above promise, recorded in the 
Book of Acts. Even in the very last-chapter, 30 
years after His ascension, we read, “All the other 
sick veople in the island came and were cured.” 
(Acts 28:9, Weymouth.) 

4. His present attitude is revealed by the fact 
that healing is a part of the Gospel that Christ 
commanded to be preached 

To “all the world” 


52 CHRIST THE HEALER 


To “all nations ” 

To “every creature ”’ 

Throughout “all the days ” 

Even unto the end of the (present) age.” 


This commission is followed by the promise 


“they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall 
recover.” 


5. His present attitude is revealed by the fact 
that His substitutionary work on Calvary was in 
behalf of all those who live on earth during His 
exaltation at the right hand of the Father. We 
have seen in the preceding sermon that, as in 
Leviticus it is recorded that all disease was healed 
on the ground of Atonement, so Matthew tells us 
that the Atonement was Christ’s reason for mak- 
ing no exceptions in healing the sick who came to 
Him. 

6. His present attitude is revealed by the plain 
command to “any sick” in the Church, while He 
is with the Father, to ask for anointing and 
prayer with the promise “the Lord shall raise him 
up.” (James 5:14.) . Does He mean we shall 
pray with faith or without it? How can we pray 
“the prayer of faith’ unless it is His will to heal; 
or, does He command us to pray for a thing He 
will not do? Right here, even laymen are com- 
manded to confess their faults one to another and 
pray one for the other, for healing, with the pur- 
pose that Elijah prayed for rain. (James 5:16- 
18). 


IS HEALING FOR ALL? 53 


Would God command us to thus importune for 
what it is not His will todo? Certainly not! 

7. His present attitude is revealed by the fact 
that it is since His exaltation that He “set” (es- 
tablished) in the Church teachers, miracles, gifts 
of healing, etc., for the continuance of the “‘same 
works” and “greater works” which He promised 
He would continue from God’s right hand. His- 
tory records the manifestation of these miraculous 
gifts since the days of the apostles down to the 
present time. 


THE UNCHANGEABLE COMPASSION OF JESUS 


8. His present attitude toward our sicknesses 
is wonderfully revealed by the fact that since His 
exaltation, His compassion has neither been with- 
drawn nor modified. 

In a later sermon, on the subject of the Lord’s 
compassion, we shall see that during the earthly 
ministry of our Lord He was everywhere “moved 
with compassion and healed all that had need of 
healing.” The same Greek word that is trans- 
lated ‘“‘mercy” is also repeatedly translated ‘“‘com- 
passion,” for they are the same. When two blind 
men asked for mercy, Jesus was moved with com- 
passion and healed them. 

Since bodily healing, in the New Testament, is 
everywhere a mercy (it being mercy, or compas- 
sion, that moved Him to heal all that came to 
Him), is not the promise still true that He is 
“‘plenteous in mercy unto all that call” upon Him? 


54 CHRIST THE HEALER 


Does not this glorious Gospel dispensation proffer 
as much mercy and compassion to its sufferers as 
did the darker dispénsation? The Rev. Kenneth 
Mackenzie, a noted teacher and writer of the Epis- 
copalian church, asks on this point, “Could the 
loving heart of the Son of God, Who had compas- 
sion upon the sick, and healed all who had need of 
healing, cease to regard the sufferings of His own 
when He had become exalted at the right hand of 
the Father?” 


AN ABSURD FEATURE OF MODERN THEOLOGY 


Is it not strange that any one in this better age 
of grace should take a position which would be 
synonymous with saying that the manifestation 
of Christ’s compassion to the afflicted has been 
withdrawn, or even modified, since His glorifica- 
tion? If God is not as willing to show the mercy 
of healing to His worshippers as He is to show the 
mercy of forgiveness to His enemies, then He is 
more willing to show mercy to the devil’s children 
than His own. The Scriptures deny this by say- 
ing, “The mercy (compassion) of the Lord is from 
everlasting to everlasting (not upon the sinner 
alone, but) upon them that fear Him,” for He 
loves His own sick and suffering child even more 
than He loves the sinner. Thank God ‘‘His mercy 
(compassion) is unto all generations.” 

9. His present attitude is revealed by the fact 
that, in the Old Testament year of Jubilee, which 
Jesus, in the 4th chapter of Luke, applies to the 


IS HEALING FOR ALL? 55 


Gospel era, it was “every man” who was told to 
return to his possession. As in the year of Jubi- 
lee its blessings were for “every man,” so in the 
Gospel era, its blessings are for “every creature.” 
This is more fully developed in the preceding ser- 
mon. 

10. His present attitude is also revealed by the 
fact that “He hath redeemed ws (ail of us) from 
the curse of the law.” (Gal. 3:13.) We have 
’ seen in the preceding sermon that this curse in- 
cluded all the diseases known to history. How 
ean God justify us and at the same time require us 
to remain under the curse from which He re- 
deemed us? 


. THE EARNEST OF COMPLETE REDEMPTION 


11. His present attitude is revealed by the fact 
that the Holy Spirit and His work in us is “The 
earnest of our inheritance until the redemption 
of the purchased possession.” (Eph. 1:14.) We 
have already pointed out that because our eternal 
destiny is both spiritual and bodily, our redemp- 
tion also must be. Therefore we cannot receive our 
full inheritance until the coming Day of Redemp- 
tion, but, thank God, by being filled with the Spir- 
it, we now have the “earnest” of it. Paul tells us, 
“We have the firstfruits of the Spirit,” and these 
are manifested both spiritually and physically. 
The “firstfruits of the Spirit’’ include the earnest 
of immortality, which is a foretaste of the resur- 
rection. Since our bodies are members of Christ, 


56 CHRIST THE HEALER 


His glorified bodily life is as truly linked with our 
bodies, as His spiritual life is linked with our spir- 
its. The same life that is in the vine is in its 
branches; and in Christ, “the True Vine,” there 
is both spiritual and bodily life. It is only by 
bringing into our bodies some of the same life that 
He is to bring at the resurrection that the Spirit 
can be the earnest of our inheritance to the body. 
Sincg our inheritance includes a glorified body, 
what must the Earnest be? Thank God, “the life 
also of Jesus” may ‘‘be made manifest in our mor- 
tal flesh’—immortal life touching our mortal bod- 
ies with a foretaste of redemption, to enable us to 
finish our course, in order that we may ‘“‘receive a 
full reward.” 

12. Does not nature itself reveal the present 
attitude of Christ toward the healing of our bod- 
ies? Nature everywhere is healing, or at least 
doing her best to heal. As soon as disease germs 
enter our bodies, nature begins to expel them. 
Break a bone, or cut a finger, and nature will do 
her utmost to heal, and usually succeeds. Now, 
has God commanded nature to rebel against His 
own will? If sickness is the will of God for His 
children, would it not seem that He has? 


GOD’S USE OF BODILY AFFLICTION 


If sickness, as some think, is the will of God for 
His faithful children, then it is a sin for them 
even to desire to be well, to say nothing of spend- 
ing thousands of dollars to defeat His purpose. 


IS HEALING FOR ALL? 57 


I truly thank God for all the help that has ever 
come to sufferers through the physician, through 
the surgeon, the hospital and the trained nurse; 
but, if sickness is the will of God, then, to quote 
one writer, “Every physician is a law-breaker; 
every trained nurse is defying the Almighty; ev- 
ery hospital is a house of rebellion, instead of a 
house of mercy,” and, instead of supporting hos- 
pitals, we ought to do our utmost to close every 
one. | 
If the modern theology of those who teach that 
God wants some of His worshipers to remain sick 
for His glory is true, then Jesus, during His earth- 
ly ministry, never hesitated to rob the Father of 
all the glory He could by healing all who came to 
Him. The Holy Spirit, likewise, robbed Him of 
all the glory He could by healing all the sick in 
the streets of Jerusalem. And Paul, too, robbed 
God of all the glory he could by healing all the sick 
on the island of Melita. 

Many today hold that God afflicts even the obe- 
dient, because He loves them, making sickness a 
love-token from our Heavenly Father. If this is 
true, why do they try to get rid of His love-token? 
Why does not the one suffering with a cancer pray 
for the second blessing for themselves, and also 
ask Him to thus bless wife, children, father, moth- 
er, neighbors, etc.? 

Does not God sometimes chasten His people 
through sickness? Decidedly yes! When we dis- 
obey God, sickness may be permitted, through the 


iy, ‘ 


58 CHRIST THE HEALER 


Father’s loving discipline; but God has told us just 
how it may be avoided and averted. ‘If we would 
judge ourselves we should not be judged, but when 
we are judged we are chastened of the Lord, that 
we should not be condemned with the world.” 
(I Cor. 11:31, 32.) These chastenings come to 
save us from final judgment; but when we see the 
cause of the chastening, and turn from it, God 
promises it shall be withdrawn. As soon as “we 
judge ourselves,” or learn our lesson, the absolute 
promise is “‘we shall not be judged.” By self- 
judgment we may avoid chastening. Divine heal- 
ing is not unconditionally promised to all chris- 
tians, regardless of their conduct. It is for those 
who believe and obey. “All the paths of the Lord 
are mercy and truth unto such as keep His Cov- 
enant and His testimonies.” (Psa. 25:10.) 

13. His attitude now is shown by the fact that 
“He was manifested to destroy the works of the 
devil.” (I John 3:8.) Think of His leaving 
heaven and making the awful transition of becom- 
ing a man, and of all the suffering and sacrifice 
that followed. What was the purpose that moved 
Him in all this? The Scriptures give the answer 
—‘For this purpose ... that He might destroy 
the works of the devil.”” This purpose includes 
the healing of “all that were oppressed of the dev- 
il.” (Acts 10:38.) Since He was glorified has 
He relinquished this purpose, which He retained 
even during the bloody sweat of Gethsemane and 
the awful tortures of Calvary? Does He want 


IS HEALING FOR ALL? 59 


the works of the devil that He formerly wanted 
to destroy to remain in our bodies? Can it be that 
He now wants a cancer, a “plague,” a “curse,” 
“the works of the devil,” in “the members of 
Christ,” and “the temples of the Holy Ghost?” Is 
it not His will to heal any part of “the Body of 
Christ?” If not, why has He commanded “any 
sick’ in it to be anointed in His name for heal- 
ing? 

Since ‘‘the Body is for the Lord,” a ‘‘living sac- 
rifice unto God,” would He not rather have a well 
body than one that is a wreck? If not, how can 
He make us “perfect in every good work to do His 
will?” Is God’s expressed will that we ‘“‘may 
abound unto every good work,” that we may be 
“prepared unto every good work,” “throughly 
furnished unto all good works,” ‘‘zealous of good 
works,” and “careful to maintain good works” 
only for well men and women? If for all, He 
would have to heal the sick to make this possible, 
because no man can “abound unto every good 
work” while confined to a sick room. 


SALVATION ALL-INCLUSIVE 


14. His present attitude is revealed in the very 
meaning of the word “salvation.” The word 
soteria, which is the Greek word for salvation, 
implies deliverance, preservation, healing, health, © 
soundness, and, in the New Testament is applied 
sometimes to the soul, and at other times to the 
body only. The Greek word ‘“‘sogo” translated 


i” 


60 CHRIST THE HEALER 


“saved,” also means “healed,” “made sound,” 
“made whole.” In Romans 10:9 it is translated 
“saved,” and in Acts 14:9 the same word is trans- 
lated “healed” in referring to the healing of the 
man lame from birth. Both Greek words fer 
“salvation” and “saved” mean both spiritual and 
physical salvation; or, in other words, spiritual 
and physical healing. Paul, in Eph. 5:23, states, 
“He is the Savior of the body.” 

Is this for some, or for all? 

Dr. Schofield, in his foot-note on the word “sal- 
vation” says, “Salvation is the great inclusive 
word of the Gospel, gathering into itself all the 
redemptive acts and processes.” The word there- 
fore, includes our possession and enjoyment of all 
the blessings revealed by His seven redemptive 
names; in fact, these names were given to show 
what our salvation includes. It is therefore the 
Gospel of healing for the body, as well as for the 
soul, which “is the power of God unto salvation to 
every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also 
to the Greek.” “The same Lord over all is rich 
unto all that call upon Him.” 


A SUGGESTIVE COMPARISOW 


The proofs of Divine healing among those who 
say that they have been healed are not less bright 
and convincing than the proofs of regeneration 
are among those who today call themselves chris- 
tians. Are not those who testify that they have 
been healed in better health physically than 


IS HEALING FOR ALL? 61 


many an equal number of christians are spirit- 
ually? Would not the physical health of those 
who have been healed compare favorably with the 
spiritual health even of the average minister to- 
day? I think that the average christian, and even 
the average minister today, is a poorer proof of 
the scriptural doctrine of regeneration than those 
who testify to healing are of the doctrine of heal- 
_ing; and yet the former have heard vastly more 
teaching as a basis for their faith for salvation. 

Are all who have been baptized washed from 
all their sins? No! But those who have faith 
are; and what water is, in the ordinance of chris- 
tian baptism, oil is, in the ordinance of anointing 
the sick for healing. 


THE LORD’S COMPASSION 


The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to 
anger, and ef great mercy. The Lord is good to all: and 
His tender mercies are over all His works (Psa. 145:8-9.) 

In the study of the Lord’s compassion, we have, 
to my mind, a complete revelation of the Lord’s 
willingness to heal. During His earthly ministry 
He was everywhere moved with compassion, and 
healed all “them that had need of healing;”’ and 
it is “this same Jesus” who, after saying, “It is 
expedient for you that I go away,” is now seated 
at the right hand of God, “that He might be a 
merciful (compassionate) and faithful High 
Priest” for us. . 

In the Scriptures, “compassion” and “mercy” 
mean the same. The Hebrew noun, rachamin, is 
translated both “mercy” and “compassion.” The 
Greek verb, eleeo, is translated “have mercy” and 
“have compassion;” and, likewise, the Greek ad- 
jective eleemon is defined “‘merciful—compassion- 
ate.” 

To have compassion is to love tenderly, to pity, 
to show mercy, to be full of eager yearning. 


GOD NOTHING SO MUCH AS LOVE 
The text above begins with “the Lord is gracious 


CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 63 


and full of-compassion.” These sentiments con-~ 
cerning the nature of God are expressed over and 
over throughout the Scriptures. God is not any- 
thing so much as He is Love. The most conspic- 
uous statements in the Scriptures about our 
heavenly Father are the declarations concerning 
His love, His mercy, His compassion. There is no 
note that can be sounded concerning God’s char- 
acter that will so inspire faith as this one. In our 
revivals, I have seen faith rise “mountain high” 
when the truth of God’s present love and compas- 
sion began to dawn upon the minds and hearts of 
the people. It is not what God can do, but what 
we know He yearns to do, that inspires faith. 
‘By showing His compassion everywhere in the 
healing of the sick, Jesus unveiled the compas- 
sionate heart of God to the people, and the multi- 
tudes came to Him for help. Oh, how insidiously 
has Satan worked to hide this glorious fact from 
the people. He has broadcasted the unscriptural, 
illogical and worn-out statement, that the age of 
miracles is past, until he has almost succeeded in 
eclipsing the compassion of God from the eyes of 
the world. Modern theology magnifies the power 
of God more than it magnifies His compassion; 
His power more than it does the great fact that 
“the exceeding greatness of His power (is) to us- 
ward.” But the Bible reverses this, and magnifies 
His willingness to use His power more than it does 
the power itself. In no place does the Bible say 
that “God is power,” but it does say, that “God is 


64 CHRIST THE HEALER 


love.” It is not faith in God’s power that secures 
His blessings, but faith in His love and in His 
will. 


GOD’S LOVE VEILED BY MODERN THEOLOGY 


The first statement in our text above is, “the 
Lord is gracious,” meaning, “He is disposed to 
te show favors.” This glorious fact, that shines 
with such brilliancy throughout the Scriptures, 
has been so eclipsed by modern theology that we 
hear everywhere, the Lord is able instead of “the 
Lord is gracious.” Hundreds needing healing 
have come or written to us, saying, concerning 
their need of deliverance, “the Lord is able;” but 
their teaching, as well as their lack of teaching, 
has kept them from knowing that the Lord is will- 
ing. How much faith does it take to say “the 
Lord is able?” The devil knows God is able, and 
he knows He is willing; but he has kept the people 
from knowing the latter fact. Satan is willing we 
shall magnify the Lord’s power, because he knows 
that this is not a sufficient basis for faith; but he 
knows the Lord’s compassion and willingness is. 

Before praying for the healing of people, we 
have to wait to teach them the Word of God until 
they can say, “the Lord is gracious,” instead of 
“the Lord is willing.’’ This is exactly what Jesus 
had to do before healing the leper who said, “If 
thou wilt thou canst.” He showed His willing- 
ness, so that the man could really expect healing. 

In the preceding sermon, we have presented | 


CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 65 


many scriptural proofs of the Lord’s present will- 
ingness to heal. But even when we can advance 
from saying “He is able’ to saying “He is willing,” 
this is not enough. The word “willing” is too 
tame to fully express God’s merciful attitude to- 
ward us. ‘He delighteth in mercy.” (Mic. 7:18). 
We have His attitude more fully expressed in 
II Chron. 16:9, “For the eyes of the Lord run to 
and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Him- 
self strong in the behalf of them whose heart is 
perfect toward Him.” This text exhibits our 
Lord as not only being willing, but eager to pour 
His blessings in great profusion upon all who 
make it possible for Him to do so. “For the eyes 
of the Lord run to and fro,” or, in other words, He 
is ever hunting for opportunities to gratify His 
benevolent heart, because “He delighteth in mer- 
cy.” 

Benevolence is the great attribute of God; 
therefore, if you want to please Him remove the 
obstacles out of the way of the exercise of His 
benevolence. He is Infinitely Good, and He exists 
forever in a state of entire consecration to pour 
forth blessings upon His creatures whenever they 


make it possible, which all may do. Suppose the 
vast Pacific ocean were elevated high above us. 
Then conceive of its pressure into every crevice to 
find an outlet through which it might pour its 
ocean-tides over all the earth, and you have a pic- 
ture of God’s benevolent attitude toward us. 


66 CHRIST THE HEALER 


A SERIOUS CHALLENGE 


After being first properly enlightened, I chal- 
lenge you, Reader, to place yourself where God’s 
mercy can reach you without His having to violate 
the glorious principles of His moral government, | 
then wait and see if you don’t experience the most 
overwhelming demonstration of His love and mer- 
cy, and the blessing will flow until you have 
reached the limit of your expectation. Cornelius 
placed himself where God’s mercy could reach him 
by saying to Peter, ‘We are all here present before 
God to hear all things that are commanded thee 
of God,’”’ and he found God’s goodness so great 
that He could not wait for Peter to finish his ser- 
mon. Just as soon as Peter had spoken enough 
to be a basis for their faith, down came the bless- 
ing. 

Not only is God able, but He is also willing to do 
“exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or 
think.” His love is so great that it could not be 
fully gratified by blessing all the holy beings in the 
universe; therefore, it is extended to His enemies 
“throughout the whole earth.” It seems to me 
that God would rather we should doubt His ability 
than His willingness. I would rather have a man 
who is in trouble say to me, “Brother Bosworth, 
I know you would help me if you could” (doubting 


my ability) than to say, “I know you can, but I 
have no confidence in your disposition to help me.” 
Again, the text at the head of this sermon fur- 


CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 67 


ther states that the Lord is “full of compassion; 
slow to anger, and of great mercy.” When I 
think of how the Lord so floods owr hearts with 
His tender love, until, in intercession for others 
our hearts are too full of yearnings to utter their 
feelings (yearnings that “cannot be uttered’’), I 
stand in awe, and wonder what His compassion 
must be. A mother’s compassion for her suffering 
- child makes her not only willing to relieve the 
child, but to suffer if she cannot. The Greek 
word sumpathes, (translated “compassion’’) 
means to suffer with another.” Accordingly, 
Isaiah says: “In all their affliction He was af- 
flicted.”” Is it not strange that this wondrous fact 
of His mercy toward the sick, so clearly seen and 
applied during the darker ages of the Old Testa- 
ment, should be overlooked and set aside in this 
“better” age, in which is opened the way for the 
fullest possible manifestations of His mercy 
toward every phase of human need? 


THE BENEVOLENT HEART OF GOD REACHES ALL 


Our text, after showing the greatness of His 
compassion, closes with the logical conclusion, 
“The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies 
are over all His works. In other words, He is so 
“full of compassion” that he cannot be “a Respect- 
er of persons” in the bestowal of His mercies. How 
could He (Who being unable to fully gratify His 
benevolent heart by blessing Holy Beings, extends 
His mercies to the wicked of earth) withhold the 


68 CHRIST THE HEALER 


common blessing of healing from any of His own 
obedient children? 

What a strange doctrine that the sick are not to 
look for as much mercy during this age of grace, 
which prophets and kings desired to. see, and 
Angels desired to look into, as sufferers did during 
the darker ages. Is God now more willing to show 
the mercy of forgiveness to the devil’s children 
than He is the mercy of healing to his own? The 
fact is, He loves His own sick and suffering child 
even more than He loves the sinner, and “the 
mercy (compassion) of the Lord is from ever- 
lasting to everlasting (not upon sinners alone, 
but) upon them that fear Him’. “Like as a father 
pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that 
fear Him’. As the Heaven is high above the 
earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear 
Him,” as well as to the sinner. The sick christian 
can say, with Solomon, “ . . . there is no God like 
thee . . . which keepest covenant and showeth 


mercy unto thy servants that walk before thee 
with all their hearts.” (II Chron. 6:14.) Not 
some, but “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and 
truth (not unto His enemies, but) unto such as 
keep His covenant and His testimonies.” (Psa. 25: 
10). 

INSTANCES OF THE LORD’S COMPASSION 


Now let us look at a few passages from the 
Gospels, showing the Lord’s compassion. 


CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 69 


Mark 1:40-45, “And there came a leper to Him, be- 
seeching Him, and kneeling down to Him, and saying unto 
Him, ‘if thou wilt thou canst make me clean.’ And J esus, 
moved with compassion, put forth His hand, and touched 
him, and saith unto him, ‘I will; be thou clean.’ And as 
soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed 
from him, and he was cleansed; ... and they came to 
Him from every quarter.” 


Here it was compassion that moved Christ to 
heal this leper. 


Matthew 14:13, 14. “ ... He departed thence by ship 
into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard 
thereof they followed Him on foot out of the cities. And 
Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was 
moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their 
sick.” 


Here, as elsewhere, He was “plenteous in mer- 
cy” to “all that had need of healing;’’ and it was 
His compassion that moved Him. 


Matthew 20: 29-34. “And as they departed from Jer- 
icho, a great multitude followed Him. And, behold, two 
blind men sitting by the wayside, when they heard that 
Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, ‘Have mercy on us, O 
Lord, thou Son of David.’ And Jesus ... said, ‘What 
will ye that I shall do unto you?’ They say unto Him, 
‘Lord, that our eyes may be opened.’ So Jesus had com- 
passion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately 
their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.” 


Here these blind men asked for the mercy of hav- 
ing their eyes opened, and Jesus granted unto 
them the mercy of healing, proving that healing 
is a mercy as well as forgiveness. The sick, in 


70 CHRIST THE HEALER 


those days, when seeking healing, asked for mercy. 
In our day most people think of mercy as applied 
only to the sinner, not knowing that His mercy is | 
also extended to the sick. 


GOD THE FATHER OF MERCIES ~ 


Paul, who calls God the “Father of Mercies,” 
proves it by healing all the sick on the island of 
Melita. Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful 
(compassionate) for they shall obtain mercy.” 
Job was healed when he prayed for his friends. 
According to one of the beatitudes, he obtained 
mercy by showing it. Referring to, and account- 
ing for Job’s healing, James 5:11 says, “The Lord 
is very pitiful, and of tender mercy,” and follows 
with the direction to the Church, “is any sick 
among you? let him call for the elders of the 
Church,” etc. In other words, because “the Lord 
is very pitiful and of tender mercy” let “any sick” 
in the Church to-day as well as Job obtain their 
healing also. Having provided all we need, Jesus 
is still saying, as He did to the two blind men, 
“What will ye that I should do unto you?” 

After Jesus had had compassion on the man in 
the tombs so possessed with a legion of demons 
that he cut himself with stones, and broke the 
chains with which they had often tried to bind 
him, when he was clothed and in his right mind 
he was so glad that he besought the Lord that he 
might remain with Him. ‘“Howbeit Jesus suffered 
him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy 


CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK co Wi} 


friends, and tell them how great things the Lord 
hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on 
thee. And he departed, and began to publish in 
Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for 
him: and all men did marvel.” (Mark 5:19-20). 


A RESULT OF ONE MAN’S TESTIMONY 


And now let us read Matthew 15:30-31, and see 
the results of this one man’s testimony, given to 
advertise the Lord’s compassion. “And great 
multitudes (in Decapolis) came unto Him, having 
with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, 
maimed and many others, and cast them down at 
Jesus’ feet; and He healed them: insomuch that 
the multitudes wondered when they saw the dumb 
to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame 
to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the 
God of Israel.” 

It was not their being sick, as some teach to-day, 
but their being healed, that caused these “great 
multitudes” to “glorify the God of Israel.’’ Oh, 
how much glory would come to God, as well as 
blessings to the world, if every minister to-day 
would present clearly the Bible promises for heal- 
ing to the sick, and then, as soon as each one was 
healed, he would, in his turn, publish the Lord’s 
compassion throughout his “Decapolis.” In a 
short time thousands upon thousands everywhere 
who are now sick would obtain faith in Christ for 
healing. It would then again be said of the mul- 
titudes that they “glorified the God of Israel.” 


72 CHRIST THE HEALER 


The higher critic and the modernist would soon 
be unpopular, and the false healing cults would not 
draw away from the Church the multitudes who 
are now being ensnared. 


NOT A CRIME TO PUBLISH GOD’S GOODNESS 


It is stated above that this man “published” the 
Lord’s compassion. Some oppose and write arti- 
cles against us for publishing the testimonies of 
those who are miraculously healed. What is the 
matter? Is there anything wrong in obeying the 
Lord’s command to “make known Ais deeds 
among the people?” Since Jesus died to open the 
way for His mercies to reach all the needs of man, 
we surely ought to be willing for them to know it. 
One would think to read some of the books and 
articles that are being written that it is a crime 
to let the people know about the Lord’s compas- 
sion. 

You will notice that in the Scriptures above 
quoted, as the result of miracles of healing His 
fame was spread abroad, “and they came to Him 
from every quarter.” And “they followed Him 
on foot out of the cities,” and “great multitudes 
came to Him.” “Multitudes!” “Multitudes!” 
“Multitudes,” everywhere. 

It is the same to-day. Just as soon as it is 
known in any city that “this same Jesus” is act- 
ually healing the sick—as soon as the command is 
obeyed to “make known His deeds among the 
people,” and His compassion is “published,” the 


CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 73 


people come “from every quarter.” I have never 
seen anything that would so break down all the 
barriers, and bring the people from every quarter, 
as the manifestation of the Lord’s compassion in 
healing the sick. We have found, in our revivals, 
that as soon as the public find out what “this same 
Jesus” is doing, they come from the Methodist 
quarter, from the Baptist quarter, from the Cath- 
olic quarter, from the Christian Science quarter, 
from the Unity quarter, from the Spiritualist 
quarter, from the Jewish quarter, from the poor 
man’s quarter, from the rich man’s quarter and 
from every quarter, and multitudes hear the Gos- 
pel, and give their lives to God, who would never 
even attend the meetings if there were no healing 
miracles to reveal His compassion. 


AN EFFECT OF PRESENT-DAY HEALINGS 


If Christ and His apostles could not draw the 
multitudes without miracles, does He expect more 
from us? Instead of the “ministry of healing” 
diverting from the more important matter of sal- 
vation for the soul, we have seen more happy con- 
versions in a single week than we ever saw in a 
whole year of evangelistic work during the thir- 
teen years before the Lord led us to preach this 
part of the Gospel in a bolder and more public 
way. As soon as our revivals get under way, 
hundreds nightly crowd forward to give their 
hearts and lives to God, and whole cities are put 
to talking about Jesus. Other evangelists who 


74 CHRIST THE HEALER 


have visited our revivals are now proving this to 
be true in their own meetings. 

In our last revival preceding the writing of this 
book, conducted in Ottawa, Canada, during the 
seven weeks of the meeting, six thousand came for 
healing, and about twelve thousand for salvation. 
I doubt if there would have been more than one 
thousand for salvation had it not been for the 
miracles of healing which displayed the compas- 
sion of the Lord. The City and country were 
stirred as never before in its history, and the 
largest crowds that ever gathered under one roof 
for religious meetings in this capital of Canada, 
filled the newly-built million-dollar Auditorium— 
the largest building in the City. The attendance 
ran as high as eight thousand in a single service, 
and in this book is a reproduction of a photo of one 
of these audiences. Before leaving the city, many 
hundreds of written testimonies were received 
from those healed or being healed from almost 
every kind of disease and affliction. To God be all 
the Glory! 


HEALING A MIGHTY EVANGELISTIC AGENCY 


One Baptist evangelist who, amongst other 
evangelists is now proving this to be true, has 
written, in one of ten pamphlets he has published 
on the subject, that healing is the greatest evan- 
gelizing agency that the Lord ever used, and that 
he would not return to the old way (new way) for 
all the money in America. 


CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 75 


Now let us look at another passage concerning 
the Lord’s compassion. 


And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teach- 
ing in their Synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the 
Kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease 
among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He 
was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, 
and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. 
Then said He unto His Disciples, The harvest truly is 
plenteous, but the laborers are few; Pray ye therefore 
the Lord of the Harvest that He will send forth laborers 
into His harvest. And when He had called unto Him the 
twelve, He gave them power against unclean spirits to 
cast them out, and to heal all manner of sicknesses and all 
manner of disease ...and commanded them, saying 

. . « Go, preach ... heal the sick. (Matt. 9:35 to 10:8.) 


Here, His compassion toward the sick is now 
becoming so well known that the “harvest” has 
become too great for the ONE REAPER. His com- 
passionate heart is full of yearning over the in- 
creasing numbers who could not reach Him be- 
cause of the press. “When He saw the multitudes, 
He was moved with compassion on them.” It is 
as though He was able to personally minister to 
but a portion of them, and His compassion for the 
rest of the rapidly-growing multitudes is now 
moving Him to thrust forth other laborers to heal, 
as well as preach. ‘His harvest’ is not only the 
game in character in our day, but it is also much 
greater than when He was here; and, because His 
-compassion is still the same, He wants the same 
kind of reapers to reap the same harvest, or re- 


76 CHRIST THE HEALER 


sults, by preaching and healing in “all the cities 
and villages.’’ His compassion manifested through 
these twelve new laborers soon necessitated the 
thrusting forth of seventy more, empowered to 
preach and to heal. Laborers of this kind are few 
to-day, while “the harvest” truly is plenteous be- 
yond what it was then. What He was beginning 
“to do and to teach” is exactly what He wants 
done and taught everywhere. Instead of ending 
something, according to the modern idea, He was 
starting something, which He promised to con- 
tinue and increase—not the twentieth century 
Gospel, but “this Gospel’ (that He proclaimed) 
He said “shall be preached in all the world.” 


A STRANGE REVERSAL OF CHRIST’S PROMISE 


Jesus, in John 14:12 and 13, emphatically 
taught and promised that the same mercy and 
compassion could reach the people through our 
prayers while He is our High Priest in Heaven. 
In fact, His departure was to open the way for 
His compassion to be manifested on a much larger 
scale. Isaiah prophesied of Him, “Therefore will 
He be exalted that He may have mercy... ” 
Jesus said, “It is expedient (profitable) for you 
that I go away.” This could not be true if His 
going away would withdraw, or even modify, the 
manifestation of His compassion in healing the 
sick. Is it not strange that many ministers to-day 
exactly reverse Christ’s promise that the same and 
greater works shall be done by teaching that the 


CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 77 


age of miracles is past. Others do the same by 
teaching that God wants some of His devout chil- 
dren to remain sick for His glory; and many other 
traditional and unscriptural ideas. 

Every man who teaches that healing is not for 
all who need it to-day, as it was in the past, is 
virtually teaching that Christ’s compassion toward 
the sick has been at least modified since His exal- 
tation. Worse yet, others teach that His compas- 
sion in healing the sick has been entirely with- 
drawn. To me, it is a mystery how any minister 
can take a position that veils and interferes with 
the manifestation of the greatest attribute of 
deity, God’s compassion which is Divine Love in 
action. When Paul would make the strongest 
possible appeal for consecration, he said, “I be- 
seech you by the mercies of God,’ which is the 
manifestation of His greatest attribute. 


TWO IMPORTANT QUESTIONS 


Jesus said, ‘“‘When He, the Spirit of Truth is 
come ... He shall glorify Me.” Could the Spirit 
glorify Christ to the sick by telling them that the 
age of miracles is past, or that Jesus, since His 
exaltation, has withdrawn or modified His minis- 
try to the sick, after He, Himself, promising to do 
“the works ... and greater works” during this 
age? Has the Spirit come to magnify Christ by 
modifying His ministry to His sick and suffering 
brethren while He is their High Priest, directly 
contrary to the glorifying of the God of Israel in 


78 _CHRIST THE HEALER 


Decapolis, occasioned by the healing of the multi- 
tudes? If so, then the not uncommon practice 
of praying for the sick to have fortitude and pa- 
tience to bear their affliction instead of praying 
“the prayer of faith” for their healing, is right. 

It is since He became our High Priest that He 
speaks from Heaven seven times, saying, ‘‘He that 
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith 
unto the churches.” Men are saying much to-day 
which the Spirit has never said, and which is the 
opposite of what He does say. The following are 
a few of the things the Spirit says for the purpose 
of glorifying Christ. | : 

Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like 


unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful (compas- 
sionate) and faithful High Priest ... (Heb. 2:17.) 


We have already shown that both the words 
“merciful” and “compassionate” are given as the 
meaning of the Greek adjective eleemon translated 
“merciful” in this passage. This verse has no 
reference to Christ’s compassion as manifested 
during His earthly ministry; it refers only to His 
ministry from Heaven, and to the fact that His 
incarnation was to the end that He might show 
compassion as our High Priest after His return. 
to Heaven. “All that Jesus began to do and to 
teach until the day He was taken up” is what, be- 
cause of His unchanging compassion, He promised 


would continue and be greater after He went 
away. 


CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 79 


The Spirit further glorifies Christ by saying 
that He is now “touched (Greek, sumpatheo— 
translated “have compassion,” in Heb. 10:34) 
with the feeling of our infirmities,” that He still 
“can have compassion” (Heb. 5:2); and that He 
is “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and 
forever.” Let us worship Him, because His com- 
passion is the same to-day, and because as He 
looks upon all our infirmities He is still “moved 
with compassion” and yearns to help us. 

Of course, we.recognize, and thank God, that 
many who do not believe in Divine Healing do co- 
operate with the Spirit in these glorious senti- 
ments as pertaining to the more important work 
of soul-saving; but how wonderful it would be if 
all ministers and christians, instead of saying that 
the age of miracles is past, would cooperate with 
the Spirit by also proclaiming to sufferers these 
glorious sentiments which the Spirit expresses 
while fulfilling His office-work of glorifying the 
exalted Christ. Instead of being priests and 
Levites passing by on the other side, the Church, 
in James 5, is commanded to be a “Good Samari- 
tan,” with compassion ministering to the physical 
needs of the sick and afflicted, binding up their 
wounds, pouring in the healing balm of wine and 
oil (the Word of God and the Spirit of God); for 
“He sendeth His Word and healeth them” by the 
power of the Spirit. Jesus pronounced a woe 
upon the Scribes and Pharisees for having omitted 
the weightier matters of mercy and faith. 


80 CHRIST THE HEALER 


In the fifth chapter of Acts we have another 
wonderful proof that Christ’s compassion toward 
the sick is now the same; for we read, concerning 
the multitudes brought into the streets of Jerusa- 
lem, in the days after He had ascended to the 
Father, that “they were healed every one.” Here 
it was, again, as our High Priest in Heaven, that 
Jesus did exactly what He did before going away. 
From Heaven He was “moved with compassion, 
and healed all who had need of healing.” 

Even in the last chapter of Acts, we find His 
compassion manifested from Heaven by the heal- 
ing of all on the island of Melita. While He is our 
High Priest His compassion is so great that “He 
ever liveth to make intercession for us.’ 

Again, His compassion for the sick, since He 
was glorified, moved Him to “set” (establish) in 
the Church the gifts of faith, of miracles and of 
healing for the recovery of the sick while He is 
our High Priest through the centuries. After 
Christ’s exaltation, to express it in the words of 
Rev. W. C. Stevens, “We find, as a matter of 
course and of necessity, ‘gifts of healing,’ taking 
just such rank and prominence as they did in our 
Lord’s personal ministry on earth.” 


EVEN LAYMEN MAY PRAY FOR SICK 


Again, it is His present compassion for the sick 
that caused Him, as our High Priest and Head of 
the Church, to command the elders, and even the 
laymen, to pray the prayer of faith for the healing 


CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 81 


of “any sick” during the Church Age (James 5: 
14). Rev. W. C. Stevens on this point remarks, 
“All preachers, teachers, writers and others who 
hand out the Word of Life to the people, should 
keep this direction (James 5:14) as continuously 
before the people as sickness itself constantly con- 
-fronts them.” 

Even during His earthly ministry, our Adorable 
Lord would make any sacrifice, and suffer even 
the curse, itself, in order to open the way for His 
compassion to reach the most unworthy and the 
most provoking of His enemies. Both the bloody 
sweat ot Gethsemane and the horrible tortures of 
Calvary were but the manifestations of His infi- 
nite compassion. He went to Calvary with “His 
face set like flint;’”’ for, after He had been be- 
trayed by the kiss of Judas into the hands of His 
crucifiers and Peter had cut off the ear of the 
servant of the High Priest, Jesus heals the 
ear of His enemy, and tells Peter to put up his 
sword; and He shcathed, as it were, His own 
sword, by holding in check the most natural im- 
pulse of His holy soul in refusing to pray when, 
by praying, He could have had, instantly, more 
than twelve legions of angels to enable Him to es- 
cape the agony of the cross. But, then, there 
would have been only a judgment seat, and no 
mercy seat, for fallen man with all his needs of 
body, soul and spirit. In His substitutionary work 
for us He anticipated every possible need of 
Adam’s race, and opened the way for mercy to 


8&2 CHRIST THE HEALER 


reach every phase of human need. He was then, 
and is now, moved with compassion toward all 
who need His Presence as “Provider,” “Peace,” 
“Victory,” “Shepherd,” ‘Righteousness’ and 
“Physician,” which are the seven blessings secured 
by the tragedy of His Cross, and revealed to us by 
His Redemptive names. His Covenants, including 
the Covenant of Healing, are given because of His 
mercy, and “He keepeth covenant and mercy with 
all who love him to a thousand generations.” 
(Deut. 7:9). 


HOW NOT TO GRIEVE THE HEART OF JESUS 


Doubting or ignoring His love and compassion 
grieves the heart of Jesus. It made Him weep 
over Jerusalem. So many times have ministers 
said, in these days, that we do not need miracles 
now, thinking of miracles only as signs to prove 
the Lord’s deity, etc. I have said to them, “If you 
had a cancer eating your head off, you would need 
a miracle, would you not?” Most people to-day 
are so in the dark on this subject that it never 
occurs to them that there is mercy also for the 
sick. They never think of the gifts of healing and 
miracles as being the manifestation of Christ’s 
compassion; and that, hour after hour, and day 
after day, for three years, He healed all who 
came to Him because of His compassion. Are 
not the needs of sufferers to-day the same as they 
were in that day? ‘And do they not need as much 
compassion as ever in the past? 


CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK _ 83 


When we think of the countless numbers in des- 
pair, suffering with such intense agony that death 
would be a mercy, and to whom the physicians, 
after doing their best, have been obliged to say, 
“T can do no more for you,” how precious it is to 
know that Christ’s compassion, every moment, is 
_ still precisely as when it was manifested during 
the three years of His earthly ministry of love—a 
fact upon which we may absolutely rely. 

We have shown that bodily healing is a mercy 
which Christ, Who was the expression of the 
Father’s will, everywhere bestowed upon all who 
sought it; and we‘have the plain declarations, the 
“Lord is plenteous in mercy unto all (including 
the sick) that call upon Him,” because His mercy 
“endureth forever;’’ and is “from everlasting to 
everlasting ;” He is “full of merey” “over all His 
works.” Do not these Scriptures settle the mat- 
ter? Instead of saying that the age of miracles 
is past, say, “It is written!” “It is written!” 


HOW TO APPROPRIATE 
The Redemptive and Covenant Blessing of Bodily Healing 


(Note—In this sermon we are repeating a few of the 
_ gtatements made in previous pages, in order that this 
one sermon shall contain enough to lay a complete founda- 
tion for faith. This is done for the benefit of some who 
may need the prayer of faith for their healing before they 
have time to read the entire book.) 


THE FIRST STEP 


The first step toward being healed is the same 
as the first step toward salvation, or any other 
blessing that God promises; that is, for the sick 
person to know what the Bible clearly teaches, 
that it is God’s will to heal until one has lived out 
the allotted span of life. Each individual sufferer 
must be convinced by the Word of God that his er 
her healing is the will of God; for it is impossible 
to have real faith for healing as long as there is 
the slightest doubt as to its being God’s will. 

It is impossible to boldly claim by faith a bless- 
ing which we are not certain that God offers, be- 
cause the power of God can be claimed only where 
the will of God is known. For instance, it would 
be next to impossible to get a sinner to “believe 
unto righteousness” before you had fully con- 


HOW TO APPROPRIATE 85 


vinced him that it was God’s Will to save him. 
Faith begins where the will of God is known. 
Faith must rest on the will of God alone, not on 
our desires or wishes. Appropriating faith is not 
believing that God can but that He will. Those 
who claim to believe in healing, but say one word 
‘in favor of it and ten words against it, cannot 
produce faith for healing. 


FAITH IS EXPECTING GOD TO DO 


When God commands us to pray for the sick, He 
means us to pray with faith, which we could not 
do if we did not know His will in the matter. 
Until a person knows God’s Will, they have no 
basis for faith, because faith is expecting God to 
do what we know it is His will to do. It is not 
hard, when we have faith, to get God to do His 
will. 

When we know it is His will, it is not difficult 
for us to believe that He will do what we are sure 
He wants to do. It is in this way that every 
saved person has experienced the still greater 
miracle of the new birth. There can be no ap- 
propriation by faith until we are made to know 
by the Gospel what God has provided for us. 

There is no doctrine more emphatically taught 
throughout the Word of God than that, through 
the Atonement of Christ, both salvation and bodily 
healing were provided, and that it is God’s will 
to take away the sickness of His own, and to ful- 
fil the number of their days according to His 


86 CHRIST THE HEALER 


promise. (Ex. 23:25 and 26). As the types in 
Leviticus 14 and 15 show that it was invariably 
through Atonement that sickness was healed, un- 
der the law of Moses, so Matthew 8:17 definitely 
states that Jesus*healed all diseases on the ground 
of Atonement. This Scripture shows us that 
Christ’s reason for making no exceptions while 
healing the sick who thronged Him was His 
Atonement, which He made for all Adam’s race, 
including you. As multitude after multitude 
pressed upon him “to hear Him and to be healed 
of their diseases,” it is repeatedly stated through- 
out the Gospels, ‘‘He healed them all.” (Read 
Matthew 4:24; 12:15; 14:14; Luke 4:40; Acts 
10:38.) He could make no exceptions. Why? Be- 
cause in His coming Atonement ‘Himself took our 
infirmities,” etc. Since it is “our” infirmities He 
bore, it requires the healing of all to fulfil this 
prophecy. God carefully put this in such language 
that we would have to misquote it to leave our- 
selves out. 

What Calvary provides is for all! 

God’s way of saving the soul, of healing the 
body, and of doing everything else He wants to 
do, is to send His Word—His promise—and then 
keep the promise wherever it produces faith. The 
Divine procedure in healing is stated in the text, 
“He sendeth His Word and healeth them, and de- 
livereth them from their graves.” (Psalms 
107 :20). 

It is “the Word of God which effectually work- 


HOW TO APPROPRIATE 87 


eth” in them that believe, and is “health to all 
their flesh.”” (See I Thes. 2:12; Prov. 4:22.) 

Just as a little girl’s faith for a new dress comes 
by hearing the promise of her mother to buy it 
next Saturday, so our faith for healing comes by 
hearing God’s word, or promise, to do it. Both 
the little girl’s faith and ours “cometh by hear- 
ing.”’ Now, the little girl could not, and would 
not be expected to have faith for the new dress 
until her mother promised it; so we cannot, nor 
are we expected to, have faith for healing or sal- 
vation, or any other blessing, until that faith 
comes by hearing the Word (promise) of God to 
do it. 

How could any one find “justification by faith” 
until it was preached to him, and how could any 
one find healing by faith until it was preached to 
him? Itis the Scriptures which are able to make 
men wise unto salvation. We must see that the 
Creator and Redeemer of the body is also its 
Physician before we have reason to expect healing. 


THE VALUE OF GOD’S REDEMPTIVE NAMES 


Now, since He heals us by sending His Word, 
what can be more His Word than His Redemptive 
and Covenant names, which were given, all seven 
of them, for the specific purpose of revealing to — 
every man in Adam’s race His redemptive attitude 
toward them. 

When Christ commands us to “preach the Gos- 
pel to every creature,” He means that we shall tell 


88 CHRIST THE HEALER 


“the Good News” of Redemption. His seven 
Redemptive names reveal what our Redemption 
includes. He has many other names, but only sev- 
en Redemptive names; and these seven names are 
never used in the Scriptures except in His deal- 
ings with man. Not six names, not eight; but 
seven, the perfect number, because He is a perfect 
Savior, His redemption covering the whole scope 
of human need. The blessings revealed by each 
of these names are all in the Atonement. For in- 
stance, Jehovah-Shammah means “the Lord is 
present,” “made nigh by the blood of His cross.” 

Jehovah-Shalom is translated “the Lord is our 
Peace.” This is in the Atonement because “the 
chastisement of our peace was upon Him.” 

Jehovah-Ra-ah is translated “the Lord is my 
Shepherd.” He became our Shepherd by giving 
His life for the sheep. 

So, you see, this privilege is in the Atonement. 

Jehovah-Jireh means “the Lord will provide” an 
offering; Christ, Himself, being the Offering pro- 
vided on Calvary. 

He became Jehovah-Nissi, “the Lord our Ban- 
ner,” or Victor, by spoiling principalities and pow- 
ers on the cross. 

He bore our sins, and became Jehovah-Tsid- 
kenu, “the Lord our Righteousness,” opening the 
way for every sinner to receive the gift of right- 
eousness. 

Jehovah-Rapha is translated, “I am the Lord 
that healeth thee,” or, “I am the Lord thy Physi- 


HOW TO APPROPRIATE 89 


cian.” This, also, is in the Atonement; for “Him- 
self took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.” 

This completes the list of seven names, which 
were given for the purpose of revealing God’s rela- 
tionship toward us all under each of these seven 
titles. These seven names all belong abidingly to 
Christ, and it is under each of these seven titles 
that He “is the same yesterday, today and for- 
ever.” Jesus says to all who come to Him for any 
of these seven blessings, ‘“He that cometh unto Me 
I will in no wise cast out.” 

This is the Good News that God wants preached 
to every creature, so that every creature may have 
the privilege of enjoying “the fulness of the bless- 
ing of the Gospel of Christ.” 

I say again, that nothing is more God’s Word 
“settled in Heaven” than His redemptive name 
Jehovah-Rapha. No one has a right to change 
God’s “I Am” Jehovah-Rapha to “I Was,’ because 
the “word of the Lord endureth forever.” 

Since Jehovah-Shalom, “the Lord our Peace,” is 
one of Christ’s redemptive names, has not every 
man a redemptive right to obtain peace from Him; 
and has not every man, likewise, a redemptive 
right to obtain victory from Jehovah-Nissi? Has 
not every man a redemptive right to obtain “‘the 
gift of righteousness” from Jehovah-Tsidkenu, 
etc.? If so, why has not every man a redemptive 
right to obtain healing from Jehovah-Rapha? 

This Word (Jehovah-Rapha), was so accepted 
and believed by those to whom it was first sent 


90 CHRIST THE HEALER 


that “there was not a feeble person among all their 
tribes ;’”’ and whenever this state of health was in- 
terfered with by their transgressions, as soon as 
they repented, typical atonements were made, and 
God was still Jehovah-Rapha the healer; not to 
some, but to all. God wants this name, as well as 
all others, to be sent ‘‘to every creature’’ with the 
promise “they shall recover,” for “the Lord shall 
raise them up.” | 


THE BRAZEN SERPENT A TYPE OF CHRIST 


God ratified this Word to the dying Israelites 
by sending them the added Word, “‘everyone that 
is bitten, when He looketh upon it (the type of 
Calvary) shall live.” If bodily healing is not pro- 
vided in the Atonement, why were these dying 
Israelites required to look at the type of the Atone- 
ment for bodily healing? As their curse was re- 
moved by the lifting up of the type of Christ, so 
ours is removed by the lifting up of Christ, the 
Antitype. Since the Spirit is given to us to make 
Christ real, why should not we look to Christ, 
Himself, with as much expectation as they did to 
the type? 

It will be well to note that they could not look 
at the brass snake and their symptoms at the same 
time. Abraham’s faith waxed strong while he 
looked unto the promise of God: Some people re- 
verse this, and their faith waxes weak while they 
look at their symptoms, and forget the promise. 
Since God healed by sending His Word, which is 


HOW TO APPROPRIATE 91 


the only basis for our faith, we will miss healing 
if we allow our symptoms to hinder us from ex- 
pecting what His Word promises. 


THE SECOND STEP 


The second step is to be sure you are right with 

God, because our redemptive blessings are con- 
ditional. After we hear the Gospel, and know 
what it offers, Jesus says, ‘“Repent and believe the 
Gospel.’”’ Only those who are right with God can 
follow these instructions. When seeking healing 
for our bodies there should be no compromise with 
the Adversary of our souls, because it is he who 
is the author of our diseases. Jesus may, but He 
has not promised to, destroy the works of the 
devil in our bodies while we are clinging to the 
works of the devil in our souls. It is hard to exer- 
cise faith for the removal of one part of the devil’s 
work while we allow a worse part to remain. Un- 
til a man squarely faces and settles the question 
of obedience to God, he is not on believing ground. 
James says, “Confess your faults one to another 
. .. that ye may be healed.” It is God’s will 
“that thou mayest prosper and be in health even 
as thy soul prospereth.” “If I regard iniquity in 
my heart the Lord will not hear me.” 

It is when our hearts condemn us not that we 
have confidence toward God. Y 

The command for the sick to “send for the eld- 
ers,” was first written to Christians who had been 
filled with the Spirit. There is something wrong 


92 CHRIST THE HEALER 


when a man desires the blessing but not the 
Blesser—His mercy but not himself. It is not 
proper to seek His mercy while rejecting His Will. 
Do not ask for a little blessing while rejecting a 
big one. It is impossible to receive and reject Di- 
vine blessings at the same time. 

God is waiting to say to Satan and disease what 
He said to Pharaoh, “Let My people go that they 
may serve Me.” (Ex. 7:16). “Our first consid- 
eration, in all things, even in asking for the res- 
toration of bodily health, should be the glory of 
God.” —Duffy. 

Strength for service to God is the only proper 
basis of approach when seeking health at His 
hand. The anointing with oil for healing is, itself, 
a symbol and sign of consecration. 

We must desire our health for God’s glory. 

“What, then, does the anointing mean? Turn to Leviti- 
cus 8:10-12, and you get God’s answer to the question. 
‘And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the taber- 
nacle, and all that was therein, and sanctified them,’ that 
is, he set them apart for God. The anointing ‘with oil in 
the name of the Lord,’ was an act of dedication and con- 
secration, implying on the part of the one anointed a full 
surrender to God of his hands to work for Him and for 
Him alone, of his feet to walk for Him and Him alone, 
his eyes to see, his lips to speak, his ears to hear for Him 
and Him alone, and his whole body to be the temple of 
the Holy Spirit.”—Rev. R. A. Torrey. 


“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest 
prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” 
(III John, 2.) 


The Holy Spirit tells us to submit ourselves to 


HOW TO APPROPRIATE 93 


God before He says “resist the devil,’’ because no 
one can successfully resist the devil until he sub- 
mits himself to God. When the devil is thus re- 
sisted he will not merely walk away; he will lit- 
erally run—“flee from you!” (See Jas. 4:7.) 

The curse, including the different diseases cata- 
logued in Deut. 28th chapter, came upon the peo- 
ple because their obedience and their service was 
not “with giadness and joyfulness of heart.” The 
coudition of heart that was responsible for the 
coming of those diseases mentioned in that chapter 
is not the condition for their removal. In other 
words, the condition of heart that was responsible 
for the curse in that day is not the condition of 
heart in which to come to Him for the removal of 
the curse in our day. 


GOD’S PROMISES ONLY TO THE OBEDIENT 


It is to those who will delight themselves in the 
Lord that He gives the desires of their heart. 
(See Psa. 37:4). God has not lowered the stand- 
ard for the Day of Grace. It is only to the obedi- 
ent—those who will “diligently hearken to the 
voice of the Lord” and “do that which is right in 
His sight’’—that it is said, ‘““The Lord will take 
away from thee all sickness.” (See Deut. 7:15; Ex. 
15:26). 

“Faith, you see, is the union of our hearts and wills 
with God’s Will and purpose; and where this unity is 
lacking results are impossible. This is a very important 


spiritual law, to which, in our times, we have been woe- 
fully blind.”—Rev. P. Gavin Duffy. 


94 CHRIST THE HEALER 


God says, of fearing the Lord and departing © 
from evil, “Zt shall (itself) be health (Hebrew, 
medicine) to thy navel and marrow (Heb., moist- 
ening) to thy bones.” (Prov. 3:7,8.) 

- Faith always implies obedience. Paul wrote to 
the Ephesians to obey the first commandment, 
“That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest 
live long on the earth.” (Eph. 6:3.) Naaman’s 
surrender and obedience to the Word of God was 
complete before he was healed. 

It is to those who “walk uprightly” that it is 
said, “No good thing will He withhold.” (Psa. 
84:11.) Therefore, before seeking anything from 
God we should yield ourselves to the “first and — 
great commandment,” “Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart .. .” for God says, 
“Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore 
will I deliver him.” (Psa. 91:14). He “‘keepeth 
covenant and mercy with them that love Him and 
keep His commandments to a thousand genera- 
tions.” (Deut. 7:9.) Therefore, like the leper, 
let us come and worship Him when asking for 
healing. 

“Length of days is in her (Wisdom’s) right 
hand and in her left hand riches and honor.” 
(Pro. 3:16.) Marry her (Wisdom) and you get 
her possessions. Wisdom is here represented as 
a bountiful Queen, reaching forth blessings with 
both hands to all who will become subject to her 
government. | 

It is for “them whose heart is perfect toward 


HOW TO APPROPRIATE ie 


Him” that “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro 
throughout the whole earth to show Himself 
strong.” (See II Chron. 16:30). 

“A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy 
the rottenness of the bones.” (Prov. 14:30.) An 
_ unsound heart is worse than an unsound stomach 
—a diseased soul worse than a diseased body. A 
disordered will is worse than a disordered liver. 
Paul said, “the body . . . for the Lord” before he 
said, “the Lord for the body.” 

The Bible teaches that the body is “bought with 
a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and 
in your spirit, which are God’s.” (I Cor. 6:20.) 
“TI beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies 
of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacri- 
fice ... which is your reasonable _ service.” 
(Rom. 12:1.) Therefore present your body to 
Him if you want it healed. It is not until after 
it becomes His property ae He promises to re- 
pair it. 


FIRST TO THE CROSS FOR CLEANSING 


“The sure way for the sick is, first to the cross for 
cleansing, then to the Upper Room for the gift of the 
Spirit, then to the mount appointed for a life commission, 
and, dastay to the Great Physician for strength for ser- 
vice.” —Bryant. 

“Tf the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from 
the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ 
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal 
bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (Rom. 
8:11.) In Christ; the True Vine, there is all the 


96 CHRIST THE HEALER 


life for our souls and bodies that we need; but how 
are we to possess and enjoy this except by our 
union with the Vine. It is not apart from Him, 
but “in Him” that “ye are complete.” (Col. 2:10.) 

Substitution without union is not sufficient for 
our possession and enjoyment of the life of the 
Vine. If you need a miracle, get in tune with the 
Miracle-Worker. We enjoy the Life of the Vine 
by our perfect union with the Vine. Asking for 
healing while refusing to be led by the Spirit is 
like asking a carpenter to repair the house while 
refusing to let him in the house. 

“As many as touched Him were made perfectly 
whole.” (Matt. 14:36.) You cannot touch Him 
with a reservation; therefore, like the woman who 
pressed through the throng and touched Him, you 
must “elbow” out of your way, and press beyond, 
selfishness, disobedience, unconfessed sins, luke- 
warmness, public opinion, traditions of men, arti- 
cles written against Divine healing; in fact, often — 
press beyond your own pastor, who may be un- 
enlightened in this part of the Gospel; press be- 
yond doubts, double-mindedness, symptoms, feel- 
ings and the lying Serpent. 

The Holy Spirit, Who is sent to execute for us 
the blessings of redemption, is our Paraclete or 
Helper, and is ready to help us to press through 
and beyond all of these obstacles to the place 
where we can touch Him for our needs. God is 
waiting to pour out the Holy Spirit in fulness 
upon us, Who comes as Christ’s Executive to exe- 


HOW TO APPROPRIATE 97 


cute for us all the blessings provided by Calvary, 
and pledged to us in His seven redemptive and 
Covenant names. 

It is still true that as many as touch Him are 
made whole. How do we touch Him? By believ- 
ing His promise, This is an infallible way of 
touching Christ for anything He has promised. 
We touch Him by asking, and believing that He 
hears our prayers when we pray. When the wom- 
an touched Him, it was her faith that made her 
whole; not a mere physical touch, for “the flesh 
profiteth nothing, the Spirit giveth life.” Mil- 
lions of sinners have thus touched Him for the yet 
greater miracle of the new birth. 


NOT MERE CONTACT, BUT UNION 


As the sick touched Him and were made whole 
when Christ walked upon earth, so, now, it is the 
privilege of all to actually touch Him, and the 
touch now unites us to Christ in a closer union 
than it did then. Not mere contact, but union as 
real as the branch and the vine. All that is in the 
Vine, including both spiritual and physical life, 
belongs to us—the branches. 

The touch by faith can now bring us under the 
full control of the Holy Spirit, Who is the Miracle- 
Worker, as it could not do during Christ’s earthly 
ministry, for “the Spirit was not yet given.” 
Jesus is not less a Savior and Healer since being 
glorified; He is greater. The privilege of touch- 
ing Him now is much greater than when He was 


98 CHRIST THE HEALER 


here in person, because more can now be received 
by the touch. From God’s right hand He has more 
to give; therefore, He said, “It is expedient (prof- 
itable) for you that I go away.” Since the Spirit 
comes to reveal Christ as He could not be revealed 
before He went away to send the Spirit, why can- 
not we approach Him for healing with at least as 
much faith as those who thronged Him in that 
day? 

The foregoing shows the great importance of 
being right with God before asking for healing. 
The blessing of being right with God is a thousand 
times more desirable and enjoyable than the heal- 
ing itself. I have seen the afflicted in body radiant- 
ly happy; but sinners in perfect health have been 
so unhappy as to commit suicide. 


THE THIRD STEP 


We will now endeavor to make plain how to 
appropriate healing. Getting things from God is 
like playing checkers, when, after one person 
moves, he has nothing to do until the other player 
moves. Each man moves in his own turn. So, 
when God has provided healing, or any other 
blessing, and sent us His Word, it is our move be- 
fore He will move again. Our move is to expect 
what He promises when we pray, which will cause 
us to act our faith before we see the healing; be- 
cause the healing comes in the next move, which 
is God’s move. 

God never moves out of His turn, but He always 


HOW TO APPROPRIATE 99 


moves when it is His turn. When Noah was 
“warned of God of things not seen as yet,” his 
move was to believe that the flood was coming, and 
act his faith by building the ship on dry land. So, 
when God says to “any sick,” “the prayer of faith 
shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him 
up,’ you, like Noah, are informed of God “of 
things not seen as yet,” and your move is the same 
as Noah’s, which is, to believe and act accordingly. 
Fallen nature is governed by what it sees, by its 
senses, but faith is governed by the pure Word of 
God, and is nothing less than expecting God to do 
what He promises—treating Him like an honest 
Being. 

By expectation I do not mean hope. One writer 
has well said, ‘We hope for what may be possible, 
but we expect what must be possible ... with 
that expectancy that shuts out doubt or fear of 
failure, and shows unshakable confidence.” 

Faith never waits to see before it believes, be- 
cause it “cometh by hearing” about “things not 
seen as yet,” and “is the evidence of things not 
seen.”’ All that a man of faith needs is to know 
that God has spoken. This imparts perfect cer- 
tainty to the soul. ‘Thus saith the Lord” settles 
everything. “It is written” is all that faith needs. 

Faith always blows the ram’s horn before, not 
after, the walls are down. Faith never judges ac- 
cording to the sight of the eyes, because it is the 
evidence of things not seen but promised. Faith 
rests on far more solid ground than the evidence 


100 CHRIST THE HEALER 


of the senses, and that is the Word of God which 
“abideth forever.” Our senses may deceive us, 
but God’s Word never! 

When the little girl is promised a new dress next 
Saturday, faith is the actual expectation which 
she has and manifests between now and Saturday. 
When Saturday comes, and she sees the new dress, _ 
faith for the new dress stops. Now, real faith al- 
ways has corresponding actions. The little girl, 
because of her faith, claps her hands and says, 
“Goody! Goody! I am going to have a new dress 
next Saturday!” and runs to tell her playmates 
that she has the answer to her request. 


GOD CANNOT LIE 


Jesus, at the grave of Lazarus, looked up, and 
said, “I thank Thee, Father, that Thou hast heard 
me,” though Lazarus was still dead. The little 
girl is not afraid to testify in advance that she is 
to have a new dress, and when her playmates say, 
“How do you know you are?” she confidently re- 
plies, ‘Why! Mamma promised it!’ Now, you 
have a better reason for expecting healing than 
the little girl has for expecting a new dress be- 
cause the mother may die before Saturday, but 
God cannot. The mother can lie, but God cannot. 
The house may burn down with the mother’s 
money. Every case of faith in history was a well- 
grounded assurance, produced by the promise of 
God alone, and acted upon before there was any- 
thing visible to encourage the assurance, as with 


HOW TO APPROPRIATE 101 


the little girl “between now and Saturday.” 

Faith looks “not at the things that are seen.” 
There was no flood in sight when Noah built his 
ark. Stone walls had never before fallen down at 
the blowing of rams’ horns and shouting. They 
were merely expecting what God promised, and 
when they acted their faith by blowing the rams’ 
horns while the walls were still up, this was their 
move. Then, of course, God moved in His turn, 
and down came the walls! 

The whole eleventh chapter of Hebrews is 
written to show how each one who had faith acted 
“between now and Saturday.” 

God is so well pleased with the actings of faith 
that he has listed in detail many cases, as recorded 
in the eleventh of Hebrews. 

“By faith, Noah” acted so-and-so. “By faith 
Jacob” acted so-and-so. “By faith Joseph” acted 
so-and-so. “By faith Moses” acted so-and-so. “By 
faith the walls of Jericho fell down.” “By faith 
Abraham” acted so-and-so, when everything 
seemed contrary to what God had promised. It 
was by considering the promise of God (not her 
barrenness) that Sarah received strength to be- 
come a mother when she was past age. 

These all acted with nothing but the Word of 
God as their reason con expecting the thing He 
had promised. 

It is the same with every case of faith in his- 
tory. 

Jonah’s symptoms were very real when he was 


102 CHRIST THE HEALER 


inside the fish, and he did not deny them; but he 
called them “lying vanities.”” In other words, any 
symptoms that make us doubt the fact that ‘‘God 
is plenteous in mercy to all that call upon Him” 
should be regarded as “lying vanities.” Jonah 
said, “They that observe lying vanities forsake 
their own mercy.” Instead of listening to Satan 
and watching our symptoms, we must be “‘work- 
ers together” with God, Who heals by sending His 
Word and keeping it! i | 

We must cooperate with Him by being occupied, 
not with what the devil says, but with the Word 
He sends for our healing. 


SYMPTOMS MAY LINGER 


Even when we do act our faith, symptoms do 
not always disappear instantly. After Hezekiah 
was healed, it was three days before he was strong 
enough to go up to the House of the Lord. In John 
4:50-52, the nobleman “believed the word that 
Jesus had spoken unto him,” and when he met his 
servants he enquired of them the hour when his 
dying son “began to amend.” 

The Bible differentiates between the “gifts of 
healing” and the gift of “miracles.” Christ could 
do no miracle in Nazareth because of their un- 
belief, but He healed a few sick ones. If every one © 
were to be made perfectly whole instantly, there 
would be no place for the gifts of healing; it would 
be all miracles. Many people miss healing by try- 
ing to confine God to miracles. Christ’s promise is 


- 


HOW TO APPROPRIATE 103 


that “they shall recover,” but He does not say “‘in- 
stantly.” 

The symptoms of life in a tree remain for a time 
after the tree is cut down. 

“Faith means we are confident of what we hope . 
for, convinced of what we do not see.” (Heb. 11:1 
—Moffatt’s translation.) Convinced, of course, 
because God, Who cannot lie, has spoken. How 
all-sufficient 1s this reason for believing! Faith 
is, therefore, most rational. It is not, as many 
unthinking persons suppose, believing without evi- 
dence, but believing because of the very highest 
possible evidence, God’s Word, which is “settled 
in Heaven.” The Apostle James says, “I will show 
you by my actions what faith is.” (Moffatt’s 
translation.) Faith therefore, is being so con- 
vinced of the absolute truth of the declarations of 
God which are recorded in the Bible that we act 
on them. 


FAITH BOTH RATIONAL AND SAFE 


What can be more rational, and what can be 
more safe and certain? 

Faith is to receive the written promise of God 
as His direct message to us.. His promise means 
the same as if He appeared and said to us, “I have 
heard your prayer.” The Word of God is made 
life to our bodies in exactly the same way that it 
is made life to our souls, which is by believing His 
promise. 

I have known some who had prayed for healing 


104 CHRIST THE HEALER 


for as long as 40 years without receiving it; and 
then, as soon as they were told how to appropriate, 
the healing has come sometimes in a moment. We 
do not have to pray for 40 years, or for one week, 
for the blessing that Christ is eager to bestow. 
His compassionate heart yearns to heal us more 
than we have the capacity to desire it; but we keep 
Him waiting until we have the “faith that cometh 
by hearing” and act that faith, because God will 
not cheat and move out of His turn. 

After seeing that Jesus bore our diseases as well 
as our sins on the cross, and therefore that we 
need not bear them, our next step is to appropri- 
ate by faith, which is the only scriptural way. The 
truth of the matter is, God gave us this part of our 
inheritance nearly 2,000 years ago and He is the 
waiting One—waiting for us to appropriate the 
blessing by faith. Two thousand years ago God 
“put away sin;” 2,000 years ago “God laid on 
Christ the iniquity of us all; 2,000 years ago 
“Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sick- 
nesses.” God is the waiting party, waiting for us 
to be shown how to appropriate the blessing He 
has already given. II Peter 3:9. “The Lord is 
not slack (slow) concerning His promises... . 
but He is longsuffering to usward.” Or, as Wey- 
mouth translates, “The Lord is not slow in ful- 
filling His promises but He bears patiently with 
you.” In other words, He is not slow concerning 
His promises, but we are slow and He is patient 
with us. 


' HOW TO APPROPRIATE 105 


Most of us could have been saved five years 
earlier than we were. God was not making us 
wait, but we were making Him wait. It is the 
same with our healing. 


WHEN YE PRAY, NOT AFTERWARDS 


Now, in Mark 11:24, Jesus tells us exactly how 
to appropriate any of the blessings purchased for 
us by His death. Having promised all that we 
need, He says, “What things soever ye desire when 
ye pray;” not after you pray 20 years; not after 
you get well; but while you are still sick when ye 
pray, “believe that ye receive them and ye shall 
have them.” 

The condition of receiving what we ask God for 
is to believe that He answers our prayers when we 
pray, and that we “shall recover” according to 
His promise. 

In other words, when you pray for haatine 
Christ authorizes you to consider your prayer 
answered, as when He stood at the grave of Laz- 
arus and said, “I thank Thee, Father, that thou 
hast heard Me,” before He saw Lazarus come 
forth from the grave. When we ask for healing, 
Christ bids us say, with faith, “I thank Thee, 
Father, that Thou hast heard me,” before we have 
yet seen the answer to our prayer. 

When God’s Word alone is our reason for be- 
lieving that our prayer is answered, before we 
see or feel, this is faith! 

“Jesus declared, ‘The words that I speak unto 


106 CHRIST THE HEALER 


you they are Spirit and they are life.’ John says, 
‘The Word is God.’ To receive the written words 
of Christ as the direct message to us is faith. 
This is the way the Word of God becomes life to 
us, both in our healing and in our salvation. For 
instance, the act of believing and receiving Christ 
according to John 1:12, is synonymous with the 
act of God which gives us, by His power, the new 
birth. By this same process also is Divine healing 
imparted to our bodies.” (Writer not known.) 

Another has said, in substance, with the woman 
who touched His garment, faith, fact, feeling is 
the order of healing that God never departs from. 
If we depart from this order neither faith, fact, 
nor feeling will be as we desire, because they will 
not be as God desires. » | 

I Thes. 2:13 says it is “The Word of God which 
effectually worketh also in you that believe.’ When 
His Word convinces us that our prayer is an- 
swered, before we have yet seen the answer, the 
Word begins to effectually work in us. 

“God’s Word never fails to work in those who 
accept it as such, because they are not entertaining 
doubts as to its being fulfilled in their own experi- 
ences ... God has given all His blessings to 
Faith, He has none left to bestow upon unbelief.” 
—Harriet S. Bainbridge. 

When people say to me, “I do not know that it 
is God’s Will to heal me,” I ask them, “Is it God’s 
Will to keep His promise?” If we are right with 
God, we should not consider ourselves any 


HOW TO APPROPRIATE 10¥ 


more than we would when men make promises to 
us. Not, Have I faith enough, but, Is He honest? 
It is not a question of how we feel, but what are 
the facts. Should the little girl get sick the next 
day, and feel badly, it has nothing to do with her 
mother buying her the new dress on Saturday. 
The Scriptures say, “If we ask anything accord- 
ing to His Will He heareth us.” Is this true or 
not? 

Does God answer prayer ? | 

If you will steadfastly “‘believe that ye receive’ 
(Mark 11:24) the answer to your prayer and act 
your faith, every one of you will be healed, though 
not always instantly, unless, of course, your al- 
lotted span of life has been lived out. 

God always moves after our move, which is the 
acting out of a “full assurance,” produced alone 
by His promise before we see the answer to our 
prayer. Since healing is by faith, and “‘faith with- 
out works is dead,’ it is when we begin to act our 
faith that God begins to heal. 


OUR FAITH MAKES GOD ACT 


Our “work of faith” sets God to working. 

Now, we cannot all act faith in the same way. — 
As the ten lepers went they were healed. Jonah, 
when inside the fish, could not “‘went,” but he did 
act his faith by saying, while still in the fish, “I 
will sacrifice with the voice of thanksgiving.” And 
so, acting our faith by praising and thanking God 
in advance has been, throughout history, His ap- 


108 CHRIST THE HEALER 


pointed way for our appropriation of all His bless- 
ings. Hebrews 13:15 teaches us that our thank 
offering—our “sacrifice of praise’—is to be of- 
fered in advance for the blessing God has prom- 
ised, and therefore we expect. Psalms 50:14, 15, 
says, “Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy 
vows unto the Most High, and call upon Me in the 
day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt 
glorify Me.” 

Here, as elsewhere, we are required to offer 
thanksgiving while we are still in trouble, as Jon- 
ah did. Perhaps this was the very promise he 
claimed. “Let the needy praise thy name,” that 
is, praise God in advance while you are still in 
need. “Let us come before His presence with 
thanksgiving” does not mean to get healed and 
then go from His presence thanking Him, but to 
come to Him with thanksgiving for healing before 
being healed. “Enter His gates with thanksgiving 
and into His courts with praise.” We should go 
away with thanksgiving, but this is not faith. 

Faith is what we have before we are healed. 
“They shall praise the Lord that seek Him.” 
“Thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates 
praise.” Without praise we are up against a solid 
wall with no gate; but when we begin praising, 
and appropriating, we hang our own gate, and 
walk through. “Be glad and rejoice for the Lord 
will do great things,” and accordingly “they were 
continually in the Temple praising and blessing 
God,” not after, but before they were filled with 


HOW TO APPROPRIATE 109 


the Holy Spirit. It was “when they lifted up their 
voice and praised the Lord” that “the glory of the 
Lord filled the House of God.” ‘They believed His 
words (not their symptoms, not the “father of 
lies”) and sang His praises.” 


MAKE SATAN LISTEN TO YOUR PRAISES 


Instead of your listening to the “Father of lies,” 
make him listen to your praising God for His 
promise! 

“Let everything that hath breath praise the 
Lord.” The sick man has breath. In other words, 
while you are still sick praise Him because you 
are going to recover according to His promise. 
“Let not your heart be troubled.” “In nothing 
be anxious (distracted), but with thanksgiving 
let your requests be made known unto God.” 
“Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth 
for you.” 

Every sick Christian, while sick, has a thousand 
times more to be happy over than the most cheer- 
ful sinner in perfect health. 

Praise God because “faith without works is 
dead.” “In everything give thanks, for this is the 
will of God concerning you.” “I will praise the 
Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in 
my mouth.” Since everything that hath breath is 
commanded to praise the Lord, the only scriptural 
excuse for not praising Him is to be out of breath. 
“By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of 
praise to God continually, the fruit of our lips, giv- 


110 CHRIST THE HEALER 


ing thanks to His name.” ‘“Whoso offereth praise 
glorifieth Me.” ‘Because Thy loving kindness ts 
better than life, my lips shall praise thee.’ Praise 
Him “because it is a good thing to give thanks 
unto the Lord.” “Give thanks at the remembrance ~ 
of His holiness.”? Praise Him because to withhold 
praise will show either unbelief or ingratitude. 
Praise Him because “praise is comely for the up- 
right.” Praise Him because ‘‘God inhabits the 
praises of His people.” Paul and Silas sang praises 
at midnight with their backs bleeding and their 
feet in the stocks, and God sang bass with an 
earthquake, which set them free. 

Real faith rejoices in the promise of God as 7f 
it saw the deliverance, and was enjoying it. 

With three great armies against Jehoshaphat, 
which, humanly speaking, would mean, annihila- 
tion, they praised the Lord “with a loud voice on 
high,’”’ when the only evidence that their prayer 
was answered was the naked Word of God; and 
that only through human lips. The next day, 
when they went out to the battle, and began to 
sing and praise, the Lord, in His turn, moved and 
set ambushments against the enemy, and the vic- 
tory was won. (II Chron. 20:18, 19.) “We have 
also a more sure word of prophecy; for “‘holy men 
of old spake as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost.” (II Pet. 1:19-21) 

“As in Eden the enemy succeeded in making 
void God’s testimony as to the results of eating 
the forbidden fruit, so now he seeks to make void 


HOW TO APPROPRIATE 111 


God’s testimony as to the results of believing the 
Gospel. After God said, ‘In the day thou eatest 
thereof thou shalt surely die,’ the serpent said, 
‘Thou shalt not surely die,’ and now, when God’s 
Word plainly says, “They shall lay hands on the 
sick and they shall recover,’ the same serpent 
seeks to persuade them that they shall not recover. 
Is it rational to believe the ‘father of lies’ in pref- 
erence to the Son of God, Who is Incarnate Truth? 
When coming to God for salvation or healing, it is 
essential for each one to decide whether he shall 
allow the hiss of the serpent to rise above the 
voice of God.” 

“Blessed are the ears that hear the pulses of 
the Divine whisper, and give no heed to the many 
whisperings of the world.”—Thos. a’ Kempis. 

When, after you have been anointed for healing, 
Satan tells you that you will not recover, like 
Jesus, say to him, “It is written,” “‘they shall re- 
cover;” ‘‘The Lord shall raise him up” (Jas. 
5:14.) Also, in this same passage, “in the Name 
of the Lord” means the same as if the Lord, Him- 
self, anointed you. Expect Him to honor His own 
ordinance and His own promise. 


WHY LISTEN TO THE DEVIL? 


All the devil heard from the lips of Christ, when 
tempting Him, was, “It is written!” “It is writ- 
ten!” “It is written!” (Matt. 4:4, 7,10.) “Then 
the devil leaveth Him” (Matt. 4:11.) But all we 
hear from some people is, “The devil says!” “The 


412 CHRIST THE HEALER 


devil says!’ “The devil says!’’ as though Christ’s 
words were of less consequence than those of the 
devil! This was Christ’s way; and it is the most 
successful way of resisting the devil. Let us not 
try another! “Neither give place to the devil.” 
(Eph. 4:27.) “Resist the devil and he will flee 
from you.” (Jas. 4:7). 

There is just one way of resisting the devil; 
and that is, by steadfastly believing and acting 
upon God’s Word. 

Whenever we are affected by any other voice 
more than the voice of God, we have forsaken the 
Lord’s way for our healing. 

What reason have you for doubting? You have 
no more reason for doubting than the sinner has 
when he repents and asks forgiveness of his sins. 
You have exactly the same reason for expecting 
to be healed that you had for expecting to be 
saved. “You have His Word for it, and if you 
cannot accept that to the point of acting upon it, 
then your faith is still very far from what it 
should be.”—Duffy. 


THE LORD’S COMPASSION A BASIS FOR FAITH 


What a basis for faith is the Lord’s compassion. 
Since Christ has redeemed us from sickness, sure- 
ly His love and faithfulness may be trusted. The 
cross is a sure foundation and a perfect reason for 
the exercise of faith. 

I do not recall who said, “Let us put our sick- 
ness away by faith, as we would put away sin. 


HOW TO APPROPRIATE 113 


The consecrated christian will not consciously tol- 
erate sin for a moment, and yet how tolerant some 
are towards sickness. They will even pet and in- 
dulge their aches and pains, instead of resisting 
them as the works of the devil.” 

Harriet 8. Bainbridge says, in substance, that 
the Lord Jesus has declared, concerning the sin, 
sorrow and physical misery of Adam’s race “It is 
finished;” and has offered unto each one of us 
the gift of the Holy Spirit to enable us to realize 
and enjoy the great salvation He purchased for us. 
To believe without doubt that Christ’s words “It 
is finished,” is a literal statement of an unchange- 
able fact, invariably brings deliverance. The ser- 
pent is still denying this great saying of Christ 
to our great loss, just as he caused Eve to forget 
and disregard words which God had plainly spok- 
en to her. It is by realizing that our redemption 
from sickness was actually accomplished in the 
body of our crucified Lord, and by whole-heartedly 
believing and receiving what God declares in His 
written Word about the matter, that the Holy 
Spirit gives us the personal experience of Christ 
as our Physician. 


PRESENT DAY RESULTS OF BELIEVING GOD 


Following these instructions has brought sound- 
ness upon thousands who had before been 
taught that the age of miracles was past, and that 
God wanted people to remain sick for His glory, 
etc., etc. Those born blind are now seeing; deaf 


114 CHRIST THE HEALER 


and dumb mutes from birth are now hearing and 
speaking; cripples from birth are now perfectly 
whole; epileptics for years are now free and re- 
joicing; many who were dying with cancers are 
now well, and praying the prayer of faith for the 
healing of others; and God is no respecter of per- 
sons. “If a man will purge himself from these he 
shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet 
for the Master’s use, and thoroughly furnished 
unto every good work.” This is never true while 
we are sick in bed. God’s New Covenant provides 
that we each “shall be made perfect in every good 
work to do His will.” This cannot be while we 
are sick, and this shows His willingness to make 
us well; in fact, His eagerness. 

He cannot keep His Covenant with us without 
taking away our sicknesses and fulfilling the num- 
ber of our days, according to His promise. 

Since it is “by His stripes we are healed,” let 
us not forget what our healing cost, but with grat- 
itude and love, and consecrated service to God, let 
us stand on His promise and “blow the ram’s 
horn” of faith and thanksgiving until the walls of 
our affliction fall down flat. 

Faith does not wait for the walls to fall down; 
faith shouts them down! 


NOTE: Let the reader next read, prayer- 
~@| fully, the supplement to this sermon, entitled Pe 


“Appropriating Faith” (Pages 181 to 189). 


PAUL’S “THORN” 


And lest I should be exalted above measure through the 
abundance of the revelations, there was given me a thorn 
in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I 
should be exalted above measure. For this thing I be- 
sought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 
And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for 
my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly 
therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the 
power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take 
pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in 
persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I 
am weak, then am I strong.” (II Cor. 12:7-10). 


One of the most prevalent objections raised to- 
day against the ministry of healing is Paul’s 
“thorn in the flesh.” One traditional idea has led 
to another. The widespread teaching that God 
is the Author of disease, and that some of the 
most devout of His children He has desired shall 
remain sick, and glorify Him by exhibiting forti- 
tude and patience, no doubt has led to the idea that 
Paul had a sickness that God refused to heal. We 
do not believe that any one who would take time 
to read all that God has to say on the subject of 
healing could ever form such a conclusion. 

I am quick to admit that equally devout men 
may hold contrary views, not only on this point, 


116 CHRIST THE HEALER 


but on the whole subject of Divine healing. It is 
merely a matter of study and investigacion. Many 
good men whose teaching has been that the age of 
miracles is past, etc., while reading the Scriptures, 
have thoughtlessly passed over the Bible teaching 
on healing, believing it not applicable for our day. 
Nearly all who have spoken and written against 
us have not hesitated to use our name, and “go 
after us with hammer and tongs;” but they never 
have attempted to answer the scriptural argu- 
ments we have presented in our sermons on the 
subject. We have carefully, without mentioning 
their names, read their statements publicly and 
answered them from the Scriptures. If we were 
fighting against “flesh and blood” we would name 
them, and “go after them with a vengeance,” but 
this would not be Christ-like. We feel disposed to 
“keep our hands off” God’s servants, and let Him 
fight our battles for us. 


A CLERGYMAN’S ABSURD EXPOSITION 


Before considering the subject of Paul’s 
“thorn,” we quote the following from a steno- 
graphic report of a sermon preached by a prom- 
inent New York clergyman, and which he also re- 
vised, printed in great quantities, and distributed 
in every home in the vicinity of our revival, in or- 
der to offset our teaching on healing, of which he 
had practically no knowledge, having never seen 
or heard us. Among other things he said: 

The fact is—Paul was sick. He was the sickest of men. 


PAUL'S “THORN” 117 


He had one of the worst and most painful of oriental dis- 
eases. He had opthalmia—a disease of the eyes. The 
proof that he had it is overwhelming. He tells us he had 
a “thorn in the flesh.” . . . When Paul stood before them 
his eyes filled with unspeakable pus—unspeakable-looking 
matter running down over his face ... Why would they 
have digged out their eyes for him except that his eyes, as” 
he stood before them, were a pitiable and appealing sight 
to them—-as the eyes of any one with opthalmia are? 
The particular pain of this disease is that it is like a 
“stake” in the eyes . . . It is beyond dispute that Paul was 
a sick man. He says so himself. Paul did not get this 
disease by infection. How did he get it? Jesus Christ 
gave it to him. Paul did not want to be sick. He prayed 
the Lord to heal him from this sickness. He prayed not 
once, nor twice, but three times. He received no answer 
to his prayers. In spite of all his praying he got no heal- 
ing. His thrice-offered prayer brought him no cure, not 
even the hint of healing. That is not all. The Lord said 
to Paul a very startling thing. He said, “My grace is 
sufficient for thee.” . . . He tells Paul it is better for him 
to be sick than to be well. He tells Paul it is the Divine 
will he shall not be cured. . . He tells Paul Divine power 
can and will operate in and through him better with op- 
thalmia and sickness than without it. . . Hear what Paul 
has to say in response to the Lord concerning his infirmity 
and the will of the Lord that he shall not be cured of it. 
These are his words, ‘Most gladly therefore will I rather 
glory in my infirmity that the Power of Christ may rest 
upon me.” Here is Paul saying just this, “I will glory in 
my opthalmia. My eyes may be full of repulsive dischar- 
ges; I may be the object of pity; no matter, I will glory 
in it. I will rejoice in my sickness.” . . . In the quivering 
flesh and painful suffering of His apostle, the Lord has 
written His Divine protest against this unspeakable doc- 
trine, this brutal transmutation of the cross of Christ into 
a center of physical healing. 


118 CHRIST THE HEALER 


In answering our brother’s arguments on this 
point, we will state, first, that the expression 
“thorn in the flesh” is not once used in either the 
Old or New Testaments except as an illustration. 
The figure of the thorn in the flesh is not in one 
single instance used in the Bible as a figure of 
sickness. Every time the expression is used in the 
entire Bible, it is specifically stated exactly what 
the ‘‘thorn in the flesh” was, as we shall see. For 


instance, in Numbers 33:55, Moses told the chil- 
dren of Israel, before they entered the Land of 


Canaan, “If ye will not drive out the inhabitants 
of the land from before you; then it shall come to 
pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall 
be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides, 
and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.” 

Here the Scripture itself plainly tells us that 
the ‘‘pricks”’ in the eyes, and the “thorns in the 
sides of the Israelites were the inhabitants of Ca- 
naan, and not eye trouble or sickness. These 
teachers contend that Paul’s “‘thorn” must have 
been a bodily affliction, because Paul says that the 
“thorn” was “in the flesh.” I answer that, in the 
case of these Israelites, the Scripture says, “pricks 
in your eyes,” and “thorns in your sides,” but this 
does not mean that God was to stick Canaanites in 
their eyes and sides, with their heels dangling out- 
side. God was only illustrating, to show that, as 
a thorn sticking in the flesh is annoying, so the 
Canaanites would, if left remaining, be a constant 
annoyance to the children of Israel. 


°° 


PAUL'S “THORN” 119 


THE CANAANITES A THORN TO ISRAEL 


Again, Josnua, eight years later, says, in the 
23rd chapter, concerning the heathen nations in 
Canaan, ‘they shall be scourges in your sides, and 
thorns in your eyes.”’ So, we see again that the 
“scourges in their sides and thorns in their eyes” 
were Canaanites, and not sore eyes or sore sides. 
It is here again, as in all other instances, Plainly 
stated what the “thorn” was. 

Among the last words of David we read, “‘the 
sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns.” 
Without an exception, in all these cases, the 
“thorns” are personalities. As in each of these 
instances it definitely states what the “thorn” 
was; so Paul definitely states what his “thorn” 


‘was. He says it was “the messenger (Gr., Ange- 


los) of Satan;” or, as translated by others, “the 
angel of the devil,” “Satan’s angel,” ete. This 
Greek word angelos appears 188 times in the Bi- 
ble, and is translated ‘‘angel’”’ 181 times, and “mes- 
senger” the other seven times. In all the 188 
times in the entire Bible, it is in every case a per- 
son and not a thing—without a solitary exception. 
“Hell was made for the devil and his angels” (or 
‘““messengers,’) and an “angel” or a “messenger” 
is always a person that one person sends to an- 
other, and never a disease. 


PAUL’S THORN AN ANGEL OF SATAN 


Paul not only tells us that his “thorn” was an 
angel of Satan, but he also tells us what the angel 


120 CHRIST THE HEALER 


came to do: “to buffet me,” or, as Rotherham 
translates it, “that he might be buffeting me.” 
Now the word “buffet” means “blow after blow,” 
as when the waves buffeted the boat, and as when 
they “‘buffeted” Christ! Accordingly, Weymouth 
translates “Satan’s angel dealing blow after 
blow.” Since buffeting means repeated blows, if 
Paul’s buffeting was disease, it would have had to 
have been many diseases or the same disease many 
times repeated, to be called buffeting. How could 
the diseases be repeated many times unless he got 
well between-times? 

In speaking of this messenger, or angel, Rother- 
ham’s translation uses the pronoun “he,” and 
Weymouth’s translation states, “As for this, three 
times I besought the Lord to rid me of him.” Both 
of these translators use personal pronouns; viz., 
“he” and “him” when speaking of Paul’s thorn ; 
so these two pronouns, as well as the word “an- 
gel,” or “messenger,” prove that Paul’s “thorn” 
was, as he himself plainly shows, a satanic person- 
ality and not a disease. We could not use the per- 
sonal pronouns “he” or “him” when speaking of 
ophthalmia, or any other disease, because there is 
no sex to ophthalmia. Suppose I should ask a man 
how his cancer was, what would you think if you 
heard him reply, ‘““Him is lots worse, and I am suf- 
fering terribly.” Now since Paul distinctly states 
that his “thorn” was the angel of Satan sent to 
buffet him—a demon spirit sent from Satan to 


PAUL’S “THORN” 121 


make trouble for him wherever he went—why 
should we say it was something else? 


PAUL’S SUFFERINGS 


Soon after Paul’s conversion, God said to Ana- 
nias, ‘‘I will show him how great things he must 
suffer for My name’s sake,” not by sickness, but 
by the persecutions which Paul enumerates as his 
buffetings. Paul had persecuted the Christians 
from place to place, and now he, himself, was be- 
ginning to experience the same and greater perse- 
cutions. Specifying the buffetings instigated by 
Satan’s angel, Paul goes on to say, “Therefore I 
take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in ne- 
cessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s 
sake ; for when I am weak then am I strong.” Paul 
first mentions “infirmities,” for he realized, and 
every christian should realize, his weakness and 
inability in his own strength to stand up against 
a satanic messenger, and to pass triumphantly 
through “reproaches, necessities, persecutions, 
distresses,’’ and all the other buffetings he else- 
where catalogues; and this is why he besought the 
Lord three times to be rid of “‘thim’’ (the messen- 
ger) who was buffeting him so severely and in so 
many ways. Christ responded to his thrice-re- 
peated prayer, not by removing the satanic mes- 
senger, but by saying, “My grace (which is for 
the “inner”? man) is sufficient for thee; for My 
strength is made perfect in weakness.”’ 

When Paul saw that the grace of God was suffi- 
cient to strengthen him to bear all these things, 


122 CHRIST THE HEALER 


he exclaimed, “Therefore will I rather glory in — 
my infirmities (weaknesses) that the power of 
Christ may rest upon me... for when I am 
weak then am I strong.” How could it be true 
that Christ’s strength was made perfect in Paul’s 
weakness if he was left weak, or unless Paul was 
an actual partaker of Christ’s strength, which 
would remove the weakness, whether it was physi- 
eal or spiritual? Without God’s strength being im- 
parted co him is a man powerfui when he is weak, 
either physically or spiritually? Paul saw that - 
the grace ot God given him made his very buffet- — 
ings even his imprisonments, to work together 
tor his good and to turn out for the “furtherance 
of the Gospel.” What servant of God has not 
Jearned, and probably more than once, that it is 
when he is most conscious of his own weakness 
that the power of Christ rests upon him the most; 
or, that it is when he is consciously weakest in 
himself that he is the strongest because of depend- 
ing, not on his own, but on Divine strength? 


GRACE FOR SPIRITUAL, NOT PHYSICAL, INFIRMITIES 


Paul is clear in teaching that it is the “Life of 
Jesus” which is “made manifest in our mortal 
flesh,”’ but it is nowhere stated in the Scriptures 
that God gives grace to our bedies. ‘The very word 
“srace” shows that it was the “inner man” that 
needed help, because the grace of God is imparted 
only to the “inner man,” which Paul says, in ais 
case, was “renewed day by day.” In other words, 


PAUL’S “THORN” 123 


“erace” is for spiritual infirmities, and not for 
physical. | 

While the terms in the Old Testament “pricks in 
your eyes and thorns in your sides,” were used, 
the Canaanites were not an annoyance to the Is- 
raelites in the sense of inflicting any physical dis- 
ease or infirmities upon their bodies. As the an- 
noying Canaanites were outside the bodies of the 
Israelites, so Satan’s angel was outside of Paul’s 
_ body; for surely the Apostle had no demon inhab- 
iting his body. God’s grace and mercy have al- 
ways been given to enable us to bear our perse- 
cutions and temptations; but not to bear our sins 
and sicknesses, which He bore for us. God has 
never promised to take away from christians their 
external buffetings, afflictions and temptations; he 
gives us grace to bear them. But throughout his- © 
tory He has ever been ready to take away the 
internal, or bodily, oppressions of the devil, as well 
as our sins. 


FOR GOD WAS WITH HIM 


Jesus “went about doing good, and healing all 
that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with 
Him.” God tells us, “They that will live godly in 
this present world shall suffer persecution,” but 
He has never said, “They shall remain sick,” ac- 
cording to unscriptural views held by many today. 
This view denies all scriptural precedent. No 
doubt Paul got the expression “thorn in the flesh” 
from reading the Old Testament Scriptures, and 


124 CHRIST THE HEALER 


because the term illustrated their external and not 
their bodily annoyances, he used the same expres- 
sion to illustrate his own buffetings. 

If the infirmities (weaknesses) of which Paul 
_ here speaks), were physical, and, according to the 
above-quoted writer Paul was “the sickest of 
men,” and God would not remove the “thorn” by 
giving him strength, how could he labor “more 
abundantly than they all?” If “the sickest of 
men” can accomplish more work than a well man, 
then let us all pray for sickness in order that we 
also may do more work for God. After realizing 
that God’s strength was “made perfect in (his) 
weakness,” then Paul could take pleasure, not only 
in his infirmities, but also in the buffetings which 
he mentions, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, 
distresses, etc. Note, here, among other things, 
that Paul mentions necessities, meaning his finan- 
cial buffetings, which he also refers to in his first 
letter to the Corinthians written a year before. 
He says, “Even unto this present hour, we both 
hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buf- 
feted, and have no certain dwelling place” (I Cor. 
4:11), showing that Paul’s idea of buffetings was 
not a permanent sickness. 


PAUL ENUMERATES HIS BUFFETINGS 


If Paul’s “thorn” was ophthalmia, or sore eyes, 
which he does not mention, instead of these re- 
proaches, etc., which he does mention why does 
he not say he takes pleasure in the former instead 


PAUL’S “THORN” 125 


of in the latter? Not only here, but elsewhere in 
his letter to the Corinthians, Paul enumerates in 
detail his buffetings instigated by Satan’s angel. 
In addition to the reproaches, necessities, persecu- 
tions and distresses mentioned in our text, in the 
_sixth chapter of this same letter he mentions 
stripes, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watch- 
ings, fastings, dishonor, evil report, deceivers, “‘as 
dying and behold we live,” ‘‘as chastened and not 
killed,’ “as sorrowful yet always rejoicing,” “as 
poor yet making many rich,” “as having nothing 
yet possessing all things ;” and in the 11th chapter, 
“stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, 
in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I 
forty stripes save one; thrice was I beaten with 
rods; once was I stoned; thrice I suffered ship- 
wreck ...a day and a night in the deep; in 
journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils 
of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in 
perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils 
in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils ~ 
among false brethren; in weariness and painful- 
ness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst: in 
fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” ‘“Reviled 
- » . persecuted ... defamed ... made as the 
filth of the world... the offscouring of all’ 
things unto this day.” 


QUESTIONS WORTH CONSIDERING 


‘Who but Satan’s angel could be responsible for 
all these sufferings? In enumerating them we see 


126 CHRIST THE HEALER 


that Paul mentions almost everything that one 
coula think of except sickness, or ophthalmia. The 
one thing which he does not mention, and which is 
conspicuous for its absence, tradition seizes upon 
and says this was his haus Why do these op- 
posers substitute “sore eyes” or “‘sickness,” neither 
of which Paul mentions, for all of Hee buffetings 
which he does mention : 

Although it is believed Sy many saad men, one 
writer remarks that this widespread perversion of 
the Scriptures dealing with Paul’s “thorn in the 
flesh” is certainly inspired by Satan, because it 
gives him the privilege of carrying on his evil 
work of afflicting and tormenting che bodies of 
humanity. 

Since healing is an essential element of the Gos- 
pel, how could Paul enjoy “the fulness of the bless- 
ing of the Gospel” as he did, and remain sick? Is 
not healing a part of the blessing of the Gospel? 
Even such conservative scholars as those constitu- 
ting the Episcovalian Commission on Healing 
agree that “bodily healing is an essential element 
of the Gospei.” 

Suppose our brother is correct in stating that 
Paul was the “sickest of men,” suffering with oph- 
thalmia, is it not strange that when the Ephesians 
saw the pus running from Paul’s eyes and found 
that God would not heal him, this sight gave them 
faith for “special miracles” to be wrought in their 
behalf? for it is stated here that “God wrought 
special miracles by the hands of Paul, so that from 


PAUL’S “THORN” 127 


his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs 
and aprons, and the diseases departed from them, 
and the evil spirits went out.” (Acts 19:11, 12). 
The Scriptures mever speak of special miracles in 
-connection with any but this “sickest” Apostle. 
Today, if handkerchiefs were brought from one 
suffering with ophthalmia, rather than laying them 
on the sick for healing, we would burn them to 
keep from spreading the infection. 


THE CASE OF THE CRIPPLE AT LYSTRA 


Again, when the heathen cripple at Lystra 
heard Paul preach “the Gospel,’ and got a glimpse 
of Paul’s eyes, with their *repiisive discharges,” 
(?) the sight at once gave him faith to walk for 
the first time on earth, and Paul “perceiving that 
he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, 
‘stand upright on thy feet,’ and he leaped and 
walked.” ‘This heathen crippie had never wit- 
nessed a miracle nor ever heard the Gospel 
preached until he heard it from “the sickest of 
men” whom God wills “shall not be cured.” 

Again, is it rot marvelous how Paul, with 
“unspeakable pus---unspeakable-looking matter 
running down over his face,” “the sickest of men,” 
suffering with the “worst and most painful of ori- 
ental diseases . .. a pitiable and appealing sight 
to them,” and “Jesus Christ gave it to him,” tell- 
ing him, “it is the Divine will he shall not be 
cured’”’——I say is it not marvelous how Paul in this 
condition could “make the Gentiles obedient by 


128 CHRIST THE HEALER 


word and deed through mighty signs and wonders, 
by the power of the Spirit of God, ... from 
Jerusalem round about unto Hlyricum ?” (Reon 
15:18, 19.) 

Again, on the island of Melita, after seeing 
Paul’s unsightly disease, which must remain be- 
cause “Divine power can and will operate in and 
through him better with ophthalmia and sickness 
than without it,” first, the father of Publius and 
then “all the other sick people in the island came 
and were cured.” (Acts 28:8, 9—Weymouth). 


DO THE SICK GLORY IN SICKNESS 


The brother above quoted says, “Paul is saying 
just this, ‘I will glory in my ophthalmia; my eyes 
may be full of repulsive discharges; I may be the 
object of pity; no matter, I will glory in it. I will 
rejoice in my sickness!’” Since these men teach 
it is right for Paul to glory in his being “the sick- 
est of men,” why do not they also glory in their 
sickness, instead of doing their best to be rid of 
it? If they glory in their “thorn,” why have some 
of them gone to a surgeon to have it cut out? 

Some teachers hold that Paul’s “thorn” was a 
partial blindness caused by the brightness of the 
Divine light that shone upon him at his conver- 
sion. He, himself, tells us, in the year 60, when he 
wrote this epistle, that it was “above 14 years 
ago” that he received the abundance of the revela- 
tions which occasioned the giving of the “thorn 
in the flesh;’”? making it 12 years after his con- 


PAUL’S “THORN” 129 


version that the “thorn” was given, this epistle 
having been written 26 years after his conversion. 
And, again, it would be wellnigh blasphemy to 
speak of a partial blindness caused by a personal 
glimpse of the glorified Christ as “the messenger 
of Satan.” 


WHY PAUL’S “THORN ?” 


Paul distinctly states that his buffeting by the 
messenger was given him lest he should be “exalted 
above measure through the abundance of the 
revelations.” Is it because of the abundance of 
their revelations that the sick everywhere today 
must be taught to regard their sickness as a 
“thorn,” which must remain lest they be exalted? 

Since Paul’s “thorn” was no hindrance to his 
faith for the healing of ‘‘all the other sick people 
in the island’ of Melita, and elsewhere, why 
should it hinder ours; or why should it be taught 
today everywhere as a hindrance to what little 
faith for healing the sick may have received? The 
Bible says “‘faith cometh by hearing,’ but in these 
days faith leaveth by hearing—hearing these fool- 
ish doctrines. The widespread error concerning 
Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” severs the Gospel, and 
entirely removes the foundation upon which faith 
for healing must rest unless the sick one received, 
from the Spirit and not from the Bible, a special 


’ revelation that he is to be healed. 


We have noticed from the writings of these 
teachers that they are quick to mention the slight- 


130 CHRIST THE HEALER 


est physical defect in those who teach healing and 
are seeing the sick healed, and yet they argue that 
it was proper for Paul, who is the most outstand- 
ing New Testament teacher of healing, to have, 
as they contend, the “thorn” of bodily affliction. | 
If we could duplicate Paul’s wonderful ministry of 
healing while “unspeakable pus” was all the time 
running from our eyes, would not this be seized 
upon by these very teachers as a ground for ridi- 
cule? 


PAUL’S THORN NOT A HINDRANCE TO LABOR 


The Scriptures show that Paul’s “thorn” did not 
hinder him from laboring more abundantly than 
_all others, but those who are taught that their 
sickness is a “thorn” that must remain are often 
incapacitated by their “thorn” from any labor, 
not even being able to care for themselves, but in- 
creasing other people’s labors by having to be 
waited upon. It was the Apostle Paul who wrote 
that we may be “prepared unto every good work,” — 
“thoroughly furnished unto all good works,” “‘zeal- 
ous of good works,” “careful to maintain good 


works,” and “perfect in every good work to do His 


will.” How can the multitude of christians con- 
fined to their sickrooms by a “thorn in the flesh” 
“abound unto every good work?’ Do these sev- 
eral Scriptures belong only to well christians? 

If Christ’s words “My grace is sufficient” mean 
that He is telling Paul to remain sick, it would be 
the first and only instance in the Bible in which 


a, 





PAUL’S “THORN” 131 


God ever told any one to keep his disease; and 
then the very fact of it being a solitary exception 
would prove the rule, and what the Scriptures 
abundantly show, that He healed all others. Why 
do so many of these teachers today reverse the 
Scriptures, and make Paul’s “thorn” the promin- 
ent point when discussing healing, and keep in the 
background the universal policy of healing re- 
vealed throughout the history recorded in the 
Bible? Paul’s “thorn” did not hinder him from 
finishing his course for God (II Tim. 4:7), while 
present-day teaching concerning Paul’s “thorn” 
has sent multitudes, often after many years of 
terrible suffering, to premature graves, with their 
course only half run—a constantly recurring, and 
horrible, tragedy! | 


PAUL’S PRAYING A WORTHY EXAMPLE 


If the afflicted who believe this latter day teach- 
ing will follow Paul by praying until God speaks 
to them and tells them, as they think He did Paul, 
that He wants them to keep their affliction, and 
gives them the reason for it, we would quickly say, 
“Amen!” for we love the will of God. 

In Gal. 4:13, Paul does say, “Ye know how 
through infirmity of the flesh I preached the Gos- 
pel unto you at the first.’ Probably the infirmity 
here was physical, but “at the first”? does not mean 
that he remained weak. Does it not mean the op- 
posite? Else why would he say “at the first?” 


132 ’ CHRIST THE HEALER 


Probably, as some scholars believe, this was just 
after his stoning at Lystra. 

After Paul, in the plainest words, tells what his 
“thorn” was, how strange that ministers today 
should say it is something else, and use it against 
the scriptural doctrine of healing, when Paul, him- 
self, was the greatest teacher on this subject 
among the apostles and other writers of the New 
Testament. 


PAUL’S PREACHING STIMULATIVE OF FAITH 


For instance, it was the gospel Paul preached 
in Ephesus that gave faith for the “special mira- 
cles” of healing we have mentioned. He said, con- 
cerning his own preaching there, “I have kept 
back nothing that was profitable for you.” If all 
preachers today would keep back nothing that was 
profitable, they would surely all be teaching heal- 
ing. 

In Romans 15:18-20, it was Paul who said he 
“fully preached the Gospel of Christ (preached 
the full Gospel) , and made the Gentiles obedient by 
word and deed through mighty signs and wonders 
by the power of the Spirit of God . . . from Jeru- 
salem round about unto Illyricum.” 

Twenty-five years after he had become an 
Apostle, he wrote to the Corinthians (I Cor. 
11:30), “For this cause many are weak and sickly 
among you.” If Paul’s “thorn” was physical in- 
firmity, or he was sick, they would probably write 


PAUL'S “THORN” 133 


back to him, asking, “For what cause are you 
weak and sickly?” 

It was Paul who wrote, “Know ye not that your 
bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost?” “the 
members of Christ;” “members of His body, of 
His flesh, and of His bones;”’ that “‘we have the 
firstfruits of the Spirit” (firstfruits of our spirit- 
ual and physical salvation), “that the life also of 
Jesus might be made manifest in our . . . mortal 
flesh” (II Cor. 4:11) ; that “the Spirit ... shall 
also quicken your mortal (not dead) bodies” (Ro- 
mans 8:11) ; that “He is the Savior of the body,” 
—‘‘The Lord for the body and the body for the 
Lord.” 


CALLED TO BE SAINTS 


Paul is the Apostle who wrote “Unto the Church 
of God which is at Corinth ... called to be 
saints, with all that in every place call upon the 
name of Jesus Christ our Lord . . . God hath set 
-some in the Church... miracles... gifts of 
healing,” etc.; that these “gifts and callings of God 
are without repentance” (i.e., are not revoked) ; 
and that all are commanded to “covet earnestly 
the best gifts.” 

Paul did not believe, as men are teaching today, 
that these blessings were confined to Israel, but 
he did believe that the “middle wall of partition” 
was “broken down,” that in Christ there is “nei- 
ther Jew nor Greek,” but that we are “all one in 
Christ Jesus.”” Accordingly, he heals the Gentile 


134 CHRIST THE HEALER 


at Lystra crippled from birth, the same as Peter 
and John did the Jewish cripple at the Beautiful 
Gate. Paul also believed that the Old Testament 
types “were written for our admonition ;” that “as 
many as are of faith are Abraham’s seed;” that 
‘to Abraham and his seed were the promises 
made;’’ and that “if ye be Christ’s, then are ye 
Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the prom- 
ise.” (Gal. 3:29). 


PAUL ON THE ISLAND OF MELITA 


It was Paul who taught that it was “in Him” 
that “all the promises of God... are yea and 
amen,” “to the glory of God by us” (Gentiles). In 
other words, that all the promises of God, includ- 
ing all His promises to heal, owe their existence 
and power to the substitutionary work of Christ 
for us; that the redeeming work of Christ was for 
all; and, accordingly, the very last chapter of Acts 
shows us that Paul believed and proved that it was 
God’s will to heal, not some of them, but “‘all the 
other sick people in the island” of Melita (Acts 
28:9, (Weymouth.) 

Paul differentiated between miracles and heal- 
ine, and therefore did not believe in every person 
being instantly made whole, because he left Tro- 
phimus at Miletum sick, and Epaphroditus was 
“sick nigh unto death” for the Gospel’s sake (or 
from overwork), and from which he did not re- 
cover instantaneously. Paul was not a fanatic 
concerning the natural laws of health, which are 


PAUL’S “THORN” 135 


as Divine as God’s miracles, and he did not hesi- 
tate to recommend ‘“‘the fruit of the vine” in the 
place of water alone for Timothy’s stomach 
trouble. 

Paul believed in the sick themselves having faith 
for healing, for he did not say to the cripple “stand 
upright on thy feet,” until he perceived that “he 
had faith to be healed.” Jesus, himself, could do 
no miracle in Nazareth because of community un- 
belief. 


AN INSTRUCTIVE RESUME 


Is it not strange how any minister can set aside 
the whole Bible, as far as the subject of healing 
is concerned, keeping in the background— 

God’s Redemptive and Covenant name, “Jeho- 
vah-Rapha,”’ 

God’s Covenant of Healing, 

The teaching and promises of healing in the 
Old Testament types, 

The universal precedent of healing set through- 
out the history of the Old Testament, 

The words, teaching, commands, promises, and 
healing ministry of Christ, by which He revealed 
the will of God for our bodies, 

The gifts of healing set in the Church, 

The Church ordinance of anointing, which is 
commanded, 

The fact that Christ bore our sicknesses as well 
aS our sins on Calvary, 

The multiplied thousands of those healed since 


136 CHRIST THE HEALER 


the days of the Apostles, down to and including 
our days in particular. 

Is it not strange that they can set all of this 
aside, and, when speaking on the subject of heal- 
ing, choose as their text the Scripture concerning 
Paul’s “thorn,” which scholars admit they cannot 
prove has any reference to either sickness or 
healing? 


THIRTY-ONE QUESTIONS 


Propounded by Evangelist F. F. Bosworth ia the Alliance Tabernacle, To- 
ronto, Canada, April 20, 1923, As a Part of His Sermon Answering 
the Question, “Is There a Gospel of Healing?” 





1. Since the seven compound names of Jehovah, 
one of which Jehovah-Rapha (I am the Lord that 
healeth thee) reveal His redemptive relationship 
toward each person, do they not point to Calvary? 


2. Since all the promises of God are yea and 
amen in Him do not these seven names including 
Jehovah-Rapha (the Lord our Healer) owe their 
existence and their power to the redeeming work 
of Christ on the cross? 


3. Has not every believer the same redemptive 
right to call upon Christ as Jehovah-Rapha (the 
Healer of his body) as he has to call upon Him as 
Jehovah-Tsidkenu (the Healer of his soul)? Is 
not His name given for healing as long as it is for 
salvation? 


4. If bodily healing is to be obtained independ- 
ent of Calvary, as opposers teach, why was it that 


138 CHRIST THE HEALER 


no blessing of the Year of Jubilee was to be an- 
nounced by the sounding of the trumpet until the 
Day of Atonement? 


5. If healing for the body was not a part of 
Christ’s redeeming work, why were types of the 
Atonement given in connection with healing 
throughout the Old Testament? 


6. If healing was not in the Atonement why 
were the dying Israelites required to look at the 
type of the Atonement for bodily healing? If both 
forgiveness and healing came by a look at the type, 
why not from the antitype? 


7. Since their curse was removed by the lifting 
up of the type of Christ was not our curse a dis- 
ease also removed by the lifting up of Christ Him- 
self? (Galatians 3:13.) 


8. In the passage, “Surely He hath borne our 
sicknesses and carried our pains” (Isaiah 53:4) 
why are the same Hebrew verbs for “borne” and 
“carried” employed as are used in verses 11 and 12 
for the substitutionary bearing of sin unless they 
have the same substitutionary and expiatory char- 
acter? 


9. If healing was not provided for all in re- 
demption, how did the multitudes obtain from 
Christ what God did not provide? 


THIRTY-ONE QUESTIONS 139 


10. If the body was not included in redemption, 
how can there be a resurrection or how can cor- 
ruption put on incorruption or mortality put on 
immortality? Were not the physical as well as 
the spiritual earnests (foretastes) of our coming 
redemption enjoyed by God’s people throughout 
history? 


11. Why should not the second Adam take away 
all that the first Adam brought upon us? 


12. Since the Church is the body of Christ does 
God want the body of Christ sick? Is it not His 
will to heal any part of the body of Christ? If 
not, why does He command “any sick’ in it to be 
anointed for healing? 


13. Are human imperfections of any sort, be 
they physical or moral, God’s will or are they 
man’s mistakes? 


14. Since “the body is for the Lord, a living sac- 
rifice unto God” would He not rather have a well 
body than a wrecked one? If not, how can He 
make us “perfect in every good work to do His will’ 
or have us “thoroughly furnished unto every good 
work?” 


15. Since bodily healing in the New Testament 
was called a mercy and it was mercy and compas- 
sion that moved Jesus to heal all who came to Him, 


140 CHRIST THE HEALER 


is not the promise of God still true, “He is plen- 
teous in Mercy unto all that call upon Him?” 


16. Does not the glorious Gospel dispensation 
offer as much mercy and compassion to its suf- 
ferers as did the darker dispensations? If not, 
why would God withdraw this mercy and this Old 
Testament privilege from a better dispensation 
with its “better Covenant?” 


17. If as some teach, God has another method 
for our healing today, why would God adopt a less 
successful method for our better dispensation? 


18. Since Christ came to do the Father’s will, 
was not the universal healing of all the sick who 
came to Him, a revelation of the will of God for 
our bodies? 


19. Did not Jesus emphatically say that He 
would continue His same works in answer to our 
prayers while He is with the Father (John 14:12- 
13) and is not this promise alone a complete an- 
swer to all opposers? 


20. Why would the Holy Spirit who healed all 
the sick before His dispensation began, do less 
after He entered into office on the day of Pente- 
cost? Or did the Miracle-Worker enter office to 
do away with miracles? 


_ THIRTY-ONE QUESTIONS 141 


21. Is not the book of the Acts of the Holy 
Ghost a revelation of the way He wants to con- 
tinue to act through the Church? 


22. How can God justify us and at the same 
time require us to remain under the curse of the 
law which Jesus redeemed us from by bearing it 
for us on the cross? (Gal. 3:13.) 


23. Since “The Son of God was manifested that 
He might destroy the works of the devil” has He 
now relinquished this purpose which He retained 
even during the bloody sweat of Gethsemane and 
the tortures of Calvary? Or does He now want 
the works of the devil in our bodies to continue 
that He formerly wanted to destroy? Does God 
want a cancer,—‘“a plague,’ “a curse’—‘“the 
works of the devil’? in the members of Christ? 
“Know ye not that your bodies are the members 
of Christ?” (I Cor. 6:15). 


24. Are the proofs of Divine Healing among 
the one hundred and eighty-four persons who tes- 
tified in‘this Tabernacle the last two Friday 
nights, less bright and convincing than the proofs 
of Spiritual Redemption among professed Chris- 
tians today? 

Are not these 184 who have been healed in bet- 
ter health physically than a like number of pro- 
fessed Christians are spiritually? 

_ Would not the physical health of these 184 com- 


142 CHRIST THE HEALER 


pare favorably with the spiritual health of even 
the same number of ministers of our day? 


25. Would not the argument commonly em- 
ployed against Divine Healing, drawn from its 
failures, if employed against justification, regen- 
eration and all the rest be simply overwhelming? 


26. Does the fact that Christ could do no mir- 
acle at Nazareth prove anything except the un- 
belief of the people or would it be right to con- 
clude, bcause of the failure of Christ’s disciples 
to cast out the epileptic spirit from the boy, that 
it was not God’s will to deliver him? Christ 
proved by healing him that it is God’s will to heal 
even those who fail to receive it. 


27. Is not God as willing to show the mercy of 
healing to His worshipers as He is to show the 
mercy of forgiveness to His enemies? (Rom. 8:32). 


28. If Paul (as a New York minister says) 
“was the sickest of men suffering from opthalmia - 
of the eyes,” or if, as others teach, his “thorn in 
the flesh” was physical weakness instead of what 
Paul himself says it was, “Satan’s angel” inflicting 
the many buffetings which Paul enumerates, how 
could he labor more abundantly than all the other 
apostles? Or since he had strength to do more 
work than all the others, how could his “weak- 
nesses” be physical? Since Paul’s “thorn” did not 


THIRTY-ONE QUESTIONS 143 


hinder His faith for the universal healing of “all 
the rest of the sick folk on the Island” of Melita, 
(Moffatt’s trans.) why should it hinder ours? 
Would not Pavzl’s failure to be healed, if he was 
sick, hinder the universal faith of these heathen 
for their healing? Why do traditional teachers 
substitute “ophthalmia of the eyes” or sickness, 
(neither of which Paul mentions) for the “re- 
proaches,” ‘‘necessities,” “persecutions,” ‘“‘dis- 
tresses” and all the other buffetings at the hands 
of “Satan’s angels’’ which he does mention. If the 
former constitute his “thorn” why does he not say 
he takes pleasure in the former instead of the 
latter? How could Paul, sick in body, or with the 
unsightly disease of ‘“‘ophthalmia of the eyes,” and 
unable to be healed, “make the Gentiles obedient 
by word and deed through mighty signs and won- 
ders?” (Rom. 15:18-19.) 


29. If sickness is the will of God, then would not 
every physician be a law-breaker, every trained 
nurse be defying the Almighty, every hospital a 
house-of rebellion instead of a house of mercy, and 
instead of supporting hospitals should we not then 
do our utmost to close them? 


30. Since Jesus in the Gospels never commis- 
sioned anybody to preach the Gospel without com- 
manding them to heal the sick, how can we obey 
this command if there is no Gospel (good news) 
of healing to proclaim to the sick as a basis for 


104 CHRIST THE HEALER 


their faith? Or, since faith is expecting God to 
keep His promise, how can there be faith for heal- 
ing if God has not promised it? And since the 
Bible is full of promises of healing are they not 
all Gospel (good news) to the sick? Since “faith 
cometh by hearing . . . the Word” how can the 
sick have faith for healing if there is nothing for 
them to hear? 


31. “Could the loving heart of the Son of God, 
Who had compassion upon the sick, and healed all 
who had need of healing, cease to regard the suf- 
ferings of His own when He had become exalted 
at the right hand of the Father?’—Kenneth 
Mackenzie. 


TESTIMONIES 





Miraculous Healing of One Leads Many to Soul 
Salvation—Physical Blessings Also Follow 


The five testimonies combined under this head- 
ing call attention to the spiritual and physical 
blessings that follow constantly the healing of a 
single individual. The result of the healing of 
Aeneas was that all Lydda and Saron turned to 
God. His healing was as important as the salva- 
tion of two cities. Through the healing of the lame 
man at the beautiful gate of the temple, 5000 men 
were saved. Paul tells us of God’s purpose “‘to 
make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed 
through mighty signs and wonders.” 

The persons healed constantly receive with such 
physical blessings an infilling of the Spirit and a 
compassion for others that send them out to seek 
the salvation ‘of others and to tell them that they, 
too, can receive from a loving God the healing that 
they need for their own bodies. 

Thrilling testimonies telling of such a “chain of 
blessings” are continually being received. 

Saved and healed of her affliction, Mrs. J. B. 


146 CHRIST THE HEALER 


Long, of 38 Clifton Park, North Side, Pittsburgh, 
Pa., sought to fulfill the promise she made to take 
a message of Divine healing to some sick friends. 
Prompted by the Holy Spirit, she went to the altar 
with her own bodily affliction. Anointed by the 
Rev. E. D. Whiteside and Evangelist Fred Francis 
Bosworth she arose to be a spiritual blessing to 
others. How faithfully she is fulfilling her prom- 
ise is shown in her determination to carry the 
Gospel with its messages of bodily healing to the 
sick in soul and body. Souls saved and hodies 
healed bring blessed assurance of happiness to the 
benighted and forsaken. 


Cracked Knees—Painful to Walk— 
Now Climb Steps 


More than a year ago I was healed of total deaf- 
mess in my right ear and also cracked knee-caps. 
The deafness was due to nervous break-down 
which I had more than ten years ago and it left 
me deaf for more than five years. On my way to 
church one night in company with Miss Elizabeth 
Taylor, i fell and cracked my knees. They caused 
me great suffering for several years and kept 
growing worse all the time. 

I could scarcely go up and down the steps, but 
now, praise God, Ican run. I live on the hill top 
and to take the street car, it is necessary to go 
down a flight of 185 steps. I used to suffer agony 
in holding on the rail and trying to get down, but 
bless His dear name, I can now run down and I 


TESTIMONIES 147 


never go down those steps without lifting my 
heart to God in true thankfulness for what He has 
done. 

It was during the first Bosworth Campaign in 
Pittsburgh, that I was healed. I sat in the meet- 
ing looking at the wonderful sight of people being 
saved and healed. I had been saved 38 years be- 
fore when I was just a little girl. The thought 
came to me that night how sweet it would be to 
be able to take a message of Divine healing to 
some of my sick friends. Just then the thought 
came to me how can I carry the gospel of healing 
to any one unless I have a testimony of my own? 
That decided me. 

Without the least hesitation I went to the altar 
with my own bodily ills and was anointed. Broth- 
er F. F. Bosworth and Rev. E. D. Whiteside 
prayed with me and I was instantly healed. It 
was complete and during the year following my 
healing I have never had any return of the trouble. 
I was saved to serve and I was anxious to be 
healed that I might serve Him better. As I walked 
up Ohio street that night to take the car, I sudden- 
ly seemed to be in a new world. 

I believe at that time God gave me a fresh 
baptism of His Holy Spirit. This has been the 
most wonderful year of my life, for God has so 
sweetly used me in His service. Truly, there is 
joy in the service of the King. I have had more 
spiritual blessings follow my healing and Christ 
has been nearer and dearer to me than ever before. 


148 CHRIST THE HEALER , 


I find the great secret of this joy comes from 
testifying to the power of God. The night I was 
healed I testified to a member of my Church on 
the car. I knew it would spread. The following 
week my pastor called me aside, told me what he 
had heard and asked if it was true. I told him it 
was true. Hecould not see it my way at first, but 
when I gave him Scripture for it (Matt. 8:16-17) 
the Lord fully convinced him. 

The following week our services opened. It was 
the best revival we ever knew. One evening each 
week, our pastor spoke on Divine healing. The 
invitation went out to those seeking salvation or 
healing. The pastor anointed, while Brother I. E. 
Hoover and I laid hands on the sick. Many were 
healed while we prayed with them. 

I felt I was just an empty vessel lying at the 
Master’s feet, ready to be filled and used in His 
service The next day after my healing, I asked 
the Lord to send me to some one who needed heal- 
ing, that I might tell my story. The face of a 
friend of mine came before me, Mrs. Sadie Robin- 
son, 11 Brightridge street. I went to call and 
found her in bed, having been ill for many weeks. 

The next day Brother I. E. Hoover offered his 
machine; we took her to the C. & M. A. Tabernacle, 
Arch street, where she was anointed by Brother 
Bosworth and healed. It resulted in the salvation 
of four in her family. God has been wonderfully 
using her, to His honor and glory. One of her 
neighbors, Mrs. Bigley, a great sufferer for 30 


TESTIMONIES 149 


years, whose testimony follows, had heard of Mrs. 
Robinson’s healing and sent for her and myself. 
We spent an afternoon with her studying the Bible 
together. She was very anxious. 

I went again in a few days with Mr. Fred Col- 
lins who was healed at the Bosworth meeting, Mr. 
I. E. Hoover and the Rev. Kreamer, the Baptist 
minister. We prayed with Mrs. Bigley, anointed 
her and she was healed. : 

That was on Saturday. The following Tuesday 
she was up, perfectly wcll, had on her shoes, and 
without a sign of her old trouble. She was beam- 
ing with happiness and has had no return of any 
of her troubles which had been of 30 years’ dura- 
tion. Her son Was also.brought to Christ and 
healed at the Sheraden Tabernacle. 

I find that the most important thing in the 
Christian life is perfect obedience to the will of 
God. It is very sweet to live in the inner circle. 
Although it may cut us off from those around us, 
yet it is sweet to know we have His approval.— 
Mrs. J. B. Long, 38 Clifton Park, North Side, 
Pittsburgh, Pa., December 29, 1921. | 


Mrs. Taylor Confirms Mrs. Long’s Testimony 


IT am well acquainted with Mrs. Long. We both 
belong to the same church and I was with her the 
night she fell and cracked her knee-caps. She 
was laid up for some time They were also healed 
and she has no more trouble with them.—Eliz- 
abeth Taylor, 22 Overlook street, North Side, 
Pittsburgh, Pa., December 29, 1921. 


150 CHRIST THE HEALER 


Carried by Three—Came Out Alone—Was 
Almost Dead—Now Healed 


Heaurxsc or Nervous Breax-Down Resutrs 1x 
SauvatTion oF Hussanp anp Turee Davcurers 


In the early fall of last year, 1920, I was taken © 
very ill with nervous break-down of body and 
mind as well as inward trouble. I was kept at 
home for two weeks under the care of one of our 
best doctors. One day I would seemingly be bet- 
ter, but the next day would be worse and so on 
until some kind friends came and took me to their 
home in the country. There I was free from all 
city noise and I received the best treatment and all 
the love and kindness that one could receive. I 
was there six weeks, but had just the same results, 
being kept under a quieting tonic most of the time, — 
nights as well as days. 

After six weeks, I was brought back, if any- 
thing, worse than before. The next day after 
being brought home the blessed Lord sent one of 
His faithful servants to me, Mrs. Mary Long, of 
38 Clifton Park, North Side. She gave me her 
testimony and prayed for me. She was all love 
and kindness. One day she mended some of my 
son’s greasy working clothes, and another day 
helped the children prepare the meal. I tell this 
to the glory of God to show what one will do when 
the Holy Ghost has the right of way with them. 

On Monday, November 15, 1920, she and two 
others, dear Christians, came with a machine and 
took me to the Tabernacle on Arch street. There 
Brother Bosworth prayed for me and anointed me 


TESTIMONIES 151 


and I was healed immediately. Bless God, Jesus 
did it in answer to prayer. It took three to help 
me into the Tabernacle, but I walked out without 
the aid of a human hand, leaning heavily on the 
arm of Jesus. 

Oh, He was and still is so precious tome. The 
morning of the 15th, that I was taken to the 
Tabernacle, my husband and family truly believed 
I could not possibly live the day out. That even- 
ing I prepared the evening meal with very little 
help from the children. My healing has been the 
means of my husband and three daughters giving 
their hearts to Christ. They are standing firmly 
to-day on the solid rock, Christ Jesus, praise God. 

The next morning, the 16th, I took a street car 
and went to the meeting without a human being 
with me. Jesus was with me and still is. The 
day after that, the 17th, I cleaned three rooms 
completely, singing and praising God all the time. 
Since that I have been attacked a few times, and 
each time the dear Lord has sent Sister Long to 
me and she has prayed for me, and bless God, each 
time I have been healed. I truly have much to 
praise God for. 

I knew Sister Long before her healing, how she 
was afflicted, and since she has been delivered. I 
praise God for the way He is using her to His 
glory. May He add His blessing to my testimony. 

Your sister in the Lord Jesus Christ, Mrs. Sadie 
Robinson, 11 Brightridge street, North Side, 
Pittsburgh, Pa., December 31, 1921. 


152 CHRIST THE HEALER 


Nervousness Cured—Suffered for Years 


CRAFTON, PA.—Miss Hazel D. Benz, 20 Cleve- 
land Avenue. I have suffered from nervous affec- 
tion for five years. It arose from spinal trouble, 
the doctors said. JI had no control over the mus- 
cles in my head. My face and mouth were con- 
stantly twitching and distorted. My eyes were 
similarly affected. My head moved about. Spec- 
ialist after specialist was consulted. None of 
them were able to help me. They could not deter- 
mine what caused the trouble. Finally, I heard 
of the meetings at the Sheraden Tabernacle. I 
came November 4th. When the invitation was 
given I went forward, was prayed for and 
anointed. The twitching and contortions stopped 
immediately and have not returned. 

In a letter written several months later, con- 
firming her testimony, Miss Benz says: 

“Since I was healed of my serious nervous 
trouble four months ago, my mother, sister, broth- 
er-in-law and step-father have been saved. I 
have myself gained eighteen and one-half pounds 
in weight.” 


Varicose Veins—Blood Pressure—Limbs 
Swelled—Trouble Gone 


In commemoration of the birth of our Lord and 
Savior, Jesus Christ on this beautiful Christmas 
day, I know of no better tribute than the testimony 
of my dear mother and myself. I hope in giving 


TESTIMONIES 153 


it, that it may be used to bring peace and joy to 
some poor tired sinner or to help some poor suffer- 
er to be healed, all “to the Glory of God.” 

About five months ago, my mother, who had 
been troubled with varicose veins for over 30 
years, an awful high blood pressure and swelling 
of the limbs developing into a dropsical condition 
for nearly 10 years, and who had been unable to 
walk for 10 weeks, heard of one of our neighbors, 
Mrs. Robinson, being healed by ‘faith in Cod.” 
The case was so wonderful that we inquired and 
found out that a Mrs. J. B. Long had taken this 
woman to some church; so we found where Mrs. 
Long lived and asked her to come and see mother. 
Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Long came and prayed 
with mother and explained the wonderful things 
in store for all who believed. Later, Mrs. Long 
and three of the church came to see us, prayed 
with mother and anointed her. Three days later, 
she could put her shoes on and walk, which she 
had not done for 10 long weeks. 

Meanwhile, mother had read her Bible, and as 
God revealed Himself to her in prayer, she was 
greatly blessed and all the pain and aches left her 
limbs, the varicose veins started to dry up and all 
swelling recede. Her general health became bet- 
ter and the high blood pressure began to disap- 
pear, something that the doctors had claimed was 
impossible except by electric treatments. They 
had advised her removal to a hospital months ago. 

To-day finds mother in better health than she 


154 CHRIST THE HEALER 


has been in years and there has been no return of 
any of her old ailments. Glory to God for His 
blessings. Being saved and healed herself, she 
has found consolation and happiness in the work 
of God and in His promises. 

Meanwhile Mrs. Long continued to call on us. 
She was never in a hurry to go and always had 
prayer before leaving. 

When I saw the wonderful works of God in my 
mother, I too, started to search the Scriptures and 
found God’s promises were the same to me if I 
believed. On one of Mrs. Long’s visits, she told 
me of her own life and of others. After telling 
me it was the last day of the Tabernacle services, 
she persuaded me to go. Well, with Mrs. Robin- 
son and her husband, who had also been saved and 
healed, I went. It was a day I will never forget 
as long as I live. 

After listening to the evangelist, at the end of 
his sermon, he called for all who wished to be 
saved or healed or prayed for to come forward. 
All the time I had been listening, I had been silent- 
ly praying for God to lead me. With Brother 
Robinson, I went forward and I was saved by the 
blood of Christ. 

I had been suffering from nervous disorders 
and bad health for 15 years, had been through 
three very serious operations and never had a well 
day. After being prayed for and anointed by one 
of the workers, I came home and glory to God, “by 
His stripes” I was healed. I have enjoyed my 


TESTIMONIES “155 


meals ever since, have never been bothered with 
any stomach trouble at all and my nerves have 
been strengthened wonderfully. Mother and I are 
so happy and the further on we go the sweeter 
this life gets. It seems we both are getting the 
good things God has in store for all who believe. 
I also want to mention this: in one week I prayed 
to God for five things which a person would think 
were nearly impossible, but glory be to His holy 
name, I got all I asked for. 

Please print this so that some one may see it 
and profit by our experience and get peace and 
happiness like we did. All who believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. This is His 
promise and praise His blessed name He never 
breaks His promises. Our Bible is a great source 
of happiness now and my one hope is that God 
may use me in the advancement of His work in 
any way Hechooses. Weare thankful to God and 
will always be His co-workers here until He takes 
us to be with Him over there.—Carson A. Bigley, 
1321 Pennsylvania avenue, North Side, Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., December 25, 1917. 


Eye Specialists Outrivaled by Simple Faith 

I was a church member and had been one for 
five years. I knew that Jesus was the Son of God 
and that He shed his blood on the cross. But I 
did not know—had never heard that it was for 
me—that I was lost and that I could be saved and 
know it—instead of waiting until I died to learn 
whether I got to Heaven or not. 


156 CHRIST THE HEALER 


However, I was proud of the church and would 
never think of going into another denomination’s 
meeting. But I was in need of healing. I had 
been very far-sighted all my life and had been 
cross-eyed in one eye for fifteen years. I wore 
powerful glasses for over eleven years and had to 
have them changed by a specialist about every six 
months. When deprived of my glasses for just 
a few moments, I would suffer severe headaches, 
and could not see well enough to distinguish faces 
or furniture. Everything would be hazy and 
blurred. 

A friend, in Pittsburgh, sent me a Tribune giv- 
ing testimonies and announcing the Bosworth 
meetings in Detroit. I went to the meeting Jan- 
uary 11, 1921, and was saved right in my seat. I 
don’t remember the text or anything about that 
night except that I felt much lighter when I went 
out than when I came in. That week the Lord 
began dealing with me, and “behold old things 
passed away and all things became as new.” 

The next morning, I went up for healing. 
Brother B. B. Bosworth prayed for me and I was 
instantly healed. He held up the seeker’s card 
and I could read everything on it. I was just 
dumfounded. For two hours my eyes were per-. 
fectly straight and my vision normal. Then both 
went back and were worse than they had ever been 
all the rest of that day and all the next day. 

Some of the folks at home tried to urge me to 
put my glasses back on—they said that I would 


TESTIMONIES 157 


go blind altogether. But, thank God—lI refused 
and just trusted Him. The following day my eyes 
were perfectly straight and kept getting stronger 
all along, until now they are just as normal as any- 
one’s. I forgot to mention that during the time 
the Lord was testing me, I could read my Bible, 
but nothing else. Two weeks after the Lord so 
wonderfully healed me, He baptized and filled me 
with the Holy Ghost and still keeps me filled. 

I do praise God that He put healing in the Gos- 
pel and that the Bosworth Brothers ever came to 
Detroit and told us about it. Since the Lord healed 
me, I have never even had the headache from my 
eyes. 

There is no one more real to me than my Lord 
and He is nearer and dearer each day. I could 
never begin to tell what He has done for me. Al- 
most every time I give my testimony, I hear of 
some one who has been helped either physically or 
spiritually. 

I praise God that He cares for all things that 
concern us. When the Lord told us to go to St. 
Paul, we had only two cents (Mrs. Monroe and I). 
After we told the Lord we would go, He gave us 
the fare. I had never heard of any such thing as 
trusting the Lord for financial aid, ’till Mr. Bos- 
worth told of his experiences. “Faith cometh by 
hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” 

One morning, we had thirteen cents; after 
getting a light breakfast, we had one cent left. So 
we cried out, shouting “Glory” in the pocketbooks. 


158 CHRIST THE HEALER 


(No one knew that we had gone on faith.) At 
the exact time that we did this, a special delivery 
letter was sent to us with two dollars init. Three 
days later, when our rent was due, the Lord sent 
in fourteen dollars. That is the way He provided. 
When I was coming home, we had five dollars and 
twelve cents. JI asked the Lord for my fare. By 
twelve that night (Saturday), He sent it in and 
one dollar and eighty-five cents more. 

I have had to rely on His promises for every- 
thing since, and He has never failed me. 

Use this testimony as you see fit—by the guid- 
ance of the Holy Spirit and all for the glory of 
God. 

Mrs. Edith I. Watt Lau, 3704 Wabash 

Avenue, Detroit, Mich. 

(This testimony was given a year after her 
healing.) 


Healed of Cancer 


About four years ago, a cancer started on my 
face. It was, at first, apparently only a small 
wart on my nose. I kept scratching it until it 
became a sore, and then it was apparent that a 
cancer had developed. At that time I suffered 
very much, but before the second year the pain 
and agony were extreme. 

It was necessary to keep my face covered, both 
on account of its appearance and the necessity of 
keeping cloths saturated with ether and other 


TESTIMONIES 159 


anaesthetics to check the pain. I spent about 
$500.00 for anaesthetics during the last year I was 
sick. This was the only means of easing the suf- 
fering. When I removed the cloth, the pain was 
so intense that I was blinded and could not see my 
hand before my face. 

I went from one physician to another in Ohio, 
Indiana, New York and New Jersey, wherever I 
heard of a good one, looking for relief. JI am sure 
I consulted more than fifty of them. But all of 
them said there was no hope and that they could 
do nothing for me. 

But praise the Lord, in September, 1920, I heard 
of the Bosworth meetings which were being held 
in my home town, Lima, Ohio. I went prompted 
by no other desire than to get healed. I had nev- 
er heard the gospel preached in this way before 
and went forward immediately. When I was asked — 
to pray I did not know how and the words had to 
be put into my mouth, but as I repeated them, 
faith came into my heart, and I began to be very 
happy. 

They laid hands on me for healing and as they 
did so I could feel the power of God going through 
my body. It rose up into my face. The feeling 
was that of a tight rubber cap over my face which 
was being slipped off, little by little. When it 
reached the top of my head, I saw a bright light 
and I had a vision of Jesus standing right before 
me. Then I shouted in earnest, although I had 
not been able to do so before. As soon as the 


160 CHRIST THE HEALER 


hands were laid on me, the pain ceased, and I 
knew I was healed. Others tell me I cried out, “I 
am saved and healed,” and that I threw away the 
cloth which had covered my face. I was so happy 
that I was not aware of what I was doing. I 
shouted and shouted with joy, went home shout- 
ing, shouted almost all night and continued shout- 
ing when I arose in the morning. 

When I arose, my daughter had gotten break- 
fast. She looked at me and exclaimed, “Oh, 
mother!” There was a big looking-glass in the 
dining room and I looked in that. I saw that my 
upper lip, parts of which had been eaten away 
previously, was healed. It had been eaten away 
so that the roots of my teeth showed. During 
the night it had filled in with new flesh, was 
covered with fresh skin and was as solid and clear 
as it is at present. There were no traces left of 
the cancer except the scars. Two scabs which 
had been on my face were still there, but later 
disappeared. But wherever the skin had been 
gone it was completely healed during the night 
and the new skin had formed. 

My right thumb had been crippled for four 
years. My instep had been broken. They were 
both healed at the same time as the cancer. I 
have not had pain from either of them since that 
time. 

When I saw that my lip was restored, I shouted 
so loud that the home soon filled up with neigh- 
bors, to whom I told the story of what God had 
done for me. 


TESTIMONIES 161 


My children took my healing as an indication 
that the Lord would soon take me to heaven and 
if I went out to the neighbors and stayed longer 
than I expected, they would come to see if I was 
still on the earth. 

For two years I had not been able to take any- 
thing except soup or milk. I could not open my 
mouth far enough to take food in, and had to sip 
liquid from a small spoon held to my lips. I was 
healed on Friday night, and on Saturday morning 
I took up knife and fork and began to eat just as 
I did before I was afflicted. When the Bosworth 
Brothers eame to see me the same morning, I took 
a large tablespoon, opened my mouth wide and 
showed them how I could eat then. When they 
came, I was out visiting the neighbors and show- 
ing them my face, but they waited at my home 
until I returned and rejoiced with me over the 
healing. 

On Sunday, I went out to be baptized. On Sat- 
urday, something had said to me, “go into the 
water.” Brother Bosworth explained to me what 
it meant and I obeyed and was baptized 

On Monday, my daughter had a bushel of apples 
and I sat peeling them and singing, “I know the 
Lord laid His hands on me; He healed the sick and 
raised the dead.” I peeled the whole bushel before 
I realized that something had happened to my 
crippled hand. Then I found it was perfectly well. 

As soon as the news of my healing spread, I had 
many callers asking for confirmation of it. 1 re- 


162 CHRIST THE HEALER “ 


ceived letters from all over the world asking about 
it and one day I received nineteen. I also had 
many of out-of-town callers on the same errand. 
I was able to refer them to any of my neighbors 
about my previous condition, as all knew it. 

Three months ago, a doctor who had formerly 
prescribed for me, came to my house. He asked 
me how I was getting along. I told him I was 
well and praising the Lord. He wanted to know 
what doctor I had. I told him, “Dr. Jesus.” He 
said, ““How long has he been here?” I answered, 
“As long as I have.” He did not know that I 
meant the Lord Jesus Christ. When he under- 
stood, he shouted with laughter and was very 
happy over it. 

On Monday, after peeling the apples, I went 
and prayed for a woman who had a cancer. She 
went to the meeting a night or two afterward and 
was healed. As I came out of her house praising 
the Lord, I passed the gas plant. The men work- 
ing there asked me what the matter was. One of 
them must have been a Christian for when I told 
them, he began to shout. 

Since my healing a year ago, I have not had any 
symptoms whatever of the cancer or any pain in 
my hand or foot, but about a month before coming 
to Toledo, I let a very large lump of coal fall on 
my foot. it was very badly bruised. Three or 
four days before I came here, a piece of bone about 
one-half inch long, came out of it. After coming 
to Toledo, I was prayed for and the foot healed. 


TESTIMONIES 163. 


There has been no pain in it since then. 

Since I was saved, I have been called away many 
times to pray for the sick. In one case, it was a 
little boy, Billy Jones, who had been confined to 
his bed for several months. He was paralyzed 
and had bad sores on his back and face. I prayed 
for him and told the parents that in nine days he 
would walk. I said that, because it seemed that 
a voice came to me with that message. In just 
nine days from that time, he walked to my house, 
two biocks away. 

One aay last winter, I was without coal. I 
knew that the Lord had promised to take care of 
me, so I prayed about it. On going down stairs 
I found a lump of coal that filled a bushel basket 
when we broke it up. I never learned who sent it. 
When I pray for anything I need, I am sure to get 
it, just as if I had a friendly neighbor and she had 
given ittome. Ido not always get it right away, 
but it comes nevertheless. 

Just before I came to Toledo on this visit, I said 
to the Lord, “I would like to be in the Bosworth 
meetings once more.” He immediately provided 
the money for me to go to Toledo. I knew I was 
going to a strange place, so I said, ‘“‘Lord, I know 
you are going to take care of me.” Through no 
effort of mine, He provided a beautiful place for 
me to stay while here. 

When I had the cancer, I was obliged to sell my 
clothes to provide money for the ether, drugs and 
other needs; so when I was healed, I was neces- 


164 CHRIST THE HEALER 


sarily poor. But He has provided ever since. I 
have never wanted for a thing. 

The first of April, last, we were exposed to the 
smallpox. The authorities quarantined us and 
would not provide for us. I prayed and one day 
when we had run out of everything, there stood a 
man at the door with a great big basket of things. 
Both my daughter and I had a bad case of the dis- 
ease but had no physician except Jesus and came 
out all right, without any scars. 

After nearly three years of suffering, to be in- 
stantly set free! It is almost too good to be true. 


Miss Lida Clark’s Confirmation of Mrs. Alice Baker’s 
Cancer Testimony 


I was present at the time Mrs. Baker was healed 
of her cancer. After she had been anointed and 
prayed for, she said to some one, “Take that cloth 
off.” The other person loosened it from her face 
and Mrs. Baker took it and threw it away. She 
appeared to be just filled with the Holy Spirit. 
She cried out, “I am saved and healed,” as she 
sprang to her feet. It could not have appeared to 
the audience that she was healed, any more than 
it did to me. Her face was a horrible sight. It 
was 2 mass of blood, pus and open sores. But she 
said afterward that the pain had ceased and that 
she had the assurance in her heart that she was 
healed. 

The odor from the cancer was so offensive that 
the worker who filled out her card, was sick from 


TESTIMONIES 165 


it that evening and all the next day. But there 
was no odor the next night. Isat right alongside 
of her and know that this was the case. And the 
cancer, the holes in her lip and all the sores had 
disappeared. She was healed—that was unde- 
niable. 

After her healing, I saw a physician who had 
treated her during her illness. After hearing that 
she had been healed, he asked me to tell him what 
I had actually seen. I told him that I saw her 
come in with the cloth on her face, was present 
when she was prayed for, heard her say, as she 
took the cloth off, that she was healed, and saw 
her walk down the street without the cloth. 

He said that it was impossible, that she could 
not walk out without the cloth over her face, be- 
cause the pain would have been so intense as to 
blind her and she could not find her way out of the 
hall. He said, “Girl, you have been hypnotized, 
that could not be so.” 

I saw him again after he had seen her, and he 
said it certainly was a marvelous thing for her. 
He acknowledged it was so. 

Miss Lida Clark, 68214 S. Main St., Lima, Ohio. 


Monster Cancer Healed 
CHICAGO, ILL., Mrs. R. Jerolaman of 7111 Eber- 
hart avenue.—lI visited Mrs. Trina Odegard, 224 
Hoy avenue, Woodstock, IIl., May, 1921, and was 
greatly surprised to see her in the condition in 
which I found her, more dead than alive. We 


166 CHRIST THE HEALER 


knew she had suffered with ulcers of the stomach 
for twenty-five years or more and were of the 
opinion she had a cancer. Her meal consisted of 
a half slice of bread, and when I urged her to eat 
more, she told me if she did, the pains would kill 
her. She was barely able to walk across the floor. 

After I left, she consulted three physicians in 
Woodstock; had an X-ray photograph taken and 
learned she had a serious case of cancer, far too 
advanced to even suggest an operation, as the phy- 
Sicians gave as their opinion she would never pull 
through. They gave her about two weeks to live. 
She decided to consult a specialist here in Chicago, 
and he told her the same thing. It was during 
this visit in July, 1921, that she heard of the Bos- 
worth tent meetings at Cicero and North avenues. 
She was taken there at once and when prayed for, 
was healed instantly. She said the power of God 
went down through her body from head to foot 
during the prayer. ° 

Her soreness, pain and suffering were all over 
instantly. The cancer was eliminated by the power 
of God. She was so hungry before leaving the 
tent, she could hardly wait until she got where she 
could get something to eat. She visited us the 
next day, ate the heartiest meal I had ever seen 
her eat in many a year and there was not the 
slightest evidence of serious after-effect. 

It has been six months since her healing, and 
when I called her up the other evening, she was 
getting along fine. She has gained in weight and 


TESTIMONIES 167 


is hungry all the time. The people in Woodstock 
were astonished, as they never expected to seé her 
return alive after making the trip to Chicago. 

It was through her wonderful healing that 
mother and I were saved. We wanted to serve a 
God that was so loving and we gave our hearts te 
Him right then and there. I am happier every 
day since I was converted. 

These, however, are not all the blessings we 
received. I had been ailing and doctoring for al- 
most four years. I was so nervous that at times 
I almost went into hysterics. I was terribly 
anemic and also had internal trouble for which I 
had undergone an operation two and a half years 
before. After that, I was worse than ever, not 
being able to gain weight or strength, whatever 
I did. I took nerve tonics, blood tonics and serum 
injections. Nothing seemed to do me any good. 
I became disgusted with life and decided to stop 
doctoring. 

I thank God that He led me to the Bosworth 
tent meetings, as I know He wanted me to go there 
so that He might save and heal me. I was not 
saved before that and my healing came as soon as 
I gave myself to Jesus. I am gaining in weight, 
am stronger than I have ever been and am not 
nervous any more. I also thank God for the per- 
fect peace and joy that I rave in my heart, and life 
with Christ is all joy and happiness. 

Mother experienced a wonderful healing. One 
doctor said I had better see that she was taken 


168 CHRIST THE HEALER 


care of immediately or I would not have her with 
me very long. He said that she must have an ope- 
ration for gall and appendix trouble as the pains 
were so severe she could not sleep. She had un- 
dergone an operation seven years ago and had 
not been well since. She also suffered an abdom- 
inal rupture after returning home from the hos- 
pital and so dreaded the thought of another opera- 
tion. After being prayed for, she felt the power 
of God going through her and cried for joy. Her 
pains have left her entirely, and, praise the Lord, 
the rupture is being healed. 


Mrs. Killick’s Testimony 


I had suffered for years with a cancer on the 
leg. The pain caused me to tear my hair and was 
too intense to to describe. ‘The doctors operated 
but brought no relief. For two years after the 
operation I had not been able to lace my boot on 
account of the swelling, nor could I walk properly, 
kneel down, do my work or go out. The cancer 
was pronounced a Melanotic Sarcoma. I had been 
confined to my bed continuously for four months. 

Soon after being anointed and prayed with, the 
pain almost instantaneously left, and the swelling 
rapidly disappeared. The cancer has now com- 
pletely gone and only a few scars show where the 
black monster with its hideous head lived. The 
flesh has become pure and clean and my health is 
perfect. 


TESTIMONIES 169 


After being healed, I went to the doctor, who 
simply laughed and said, ‘‘Well, I am pleased to 
see it, Mrs. Killick, but I will bet you ten dollars 
it will be back in six months.” 

It is now nearly two years and my condition is 
as described. | 

Mrs. Killick, 45 Ferrier street, Toronto. 


Healing of Miss Nix 


In October, 1921, I was healed by the power of 
God from cancer, sugar diabetes and enlargement 
of the heart, a twisted spine, almost total paraly- 
sis from the hips to the feet, the condition of being 
a nervous wreck and of almost total blindness. I 
had suffered from the cancer for one and a half 
years, and from the other troubles for seven years. 
I walked only with crutches and when I went out, 
it was in a wheel chair. The doctor who treated 
me said, a few weeks ago, that I had been one of 
the greatest sufferers he had known. 

About the twelfth of October, I had a bad spell 
and sent for the doctor. He said that I had about 
ten days to live, and no more. On October the 
fifteenth, a little man who was in the habit of 
_ bringing my newspaper, came to the door and in- 
quired as to my condition. He asked to see me 
and was granted permission with the suggestion 
that I undoubtedly would not recognize him. Be- 
fore he went out I knew him but was unable to 


speak. 


170 CHRIST THE HEALER 


He said, “Mrs. Killick, who has been healed of 
a terrible cancer, is coming here. Would you like 
to see her?” JI nodded assent. She came to see 
me and told me that God wanted to heal me. She 
read the Bible to me and prayed, but I do not re- 
member now what she said. She sang a hymn 
and I do remember that. It was: 
Were the whole realm of nature mine, 
That were a present far too small. 
Love, so amazing, so Divine, 
Demands my soul, my life, my all. 
She departed saying that she would come back 
again at night. I lay in bed thinking, and when 


~ my friend who was taking care of me came in, I 


said, “If God has healed that woman He will heal 
me.” | 

I asked the Lord what He would have me do and 
I heard Him say plainly, “Put on your shoes and 
stockings.” My friend said, “Dear, you cannot 
get up,” but she brought the shoes and stockings. 
She lifted my foot to dress it and I felt no differ- 
ence, but the moment the stocking touched my 
foot, I felt the power of God touch my body. It 
started at my feet just where I was obeying the | 
command, and spread all over my body. I got up 
on my feet, although I had not stood alone for 
four years. Then I asked to have my clothes 
brought to me and I dressed alone. I walked into 
the bedroom and did up my hair. My friend 
asked, “‘What are you going to do now?” I said 
that I was going to help her to get supper. She 


TESTIMONIES a7? 


asked me what I was going to eat, and I told her 
the same as she was. Previously, I had eaten 
only eggs and orange juice. I ate just what she 
ate. 

I went to bed at nine and slept until six in the 
morning. I could not stay abed, but got up, zte 
breakfast, washed the dishes and asked God what 
He would like to have me do to glorify Him. I 
heard Him say, “Wax that floor.” The tempter 
said, ‘You cannot do that, you have not been on 
your knees for years.” I waxed the floor from 
end to end, and Mrs. Killick saw it completed when 
she returned’in the afternoon. She said, “I am 
going to give my testimony in the little Salvation 
Army Hall. Will you give yours?” 

She offered to get an automobile to take me 
down, but I refused and walked all the way. When 
I reached there, the power of God so overcame me, 
I could not speak and remained but a few mo- 
ments. 

From that hour to this God has given me 
strength and guided my steps. Last summer, I 
had charge of one of the largest summer homes of 
the Anglican Church, and often worked from six 
in the morning until two.or three o’clock the next 
morning. I have been feeling perfectly well ever 
since my healing except for an attack of pneu- 
monia from which the Lord delivered me without 
the aid of medicine or physician. My testimony 
has been a means of blessing to many, and some 
of the girls attending our own little Mission Hall | 


172 CHRIST THE HEALER 


which I was led to open in faith, have been con- 
verted and healed through it. 

Do you wonder that I love God? He has blessed 
me spiritually as well as physically and I am sure 
I am the happiest woman on earth. Better than 
my own healing He has used me mightily to tell 
others what He has done for me, and many have 
been wonderfully healed. 

Miss R. Nix, 412 Dundas street, E., Toronto. 


Miraculous Healing Followed by Conversion 
of Twenty Relatives 


I have been suffering with stomach trouble for 
many years (about 30 years). Twenty years ago 
I had the first operation for Tumor. . I got to the 
place where nothing stayed on my stomach and 
could not think of eating fruit. I have had three 
operations since the first one. Had fourteen dif- 
ferent doctors attending me. Got to the place 
where I could not even take any more medicine on 
account of the condition of my stomach. Found 
I had a fallen stomach. Last June I found I had 
an inward Goiter. My condition grew worse. At 
last I found [had a Cancer. I went to the People’s 
Tabernacle at Bethlehm, Pa., and was anointed 
and prayed for and God did so compassionately 
touch my body, praise His Name! I cried for joy. 
The Lord has never been so dear to me. I did not 
realize He loved me so. Things are different. I 
see that He was just waiting to come and heal 


TESTIMONIES 173 


me. I am healed of all my diseases, praise His 
name! 

What is still better, I brought my husband, 
mother, daughter, sons, sisters and brothers, sis- 
ter-in-law, nieces and one nephew. Twenty in 
all, and they were all converted. God made a 
clean sweep. “Thou shalt be saved and thy 
house.” —Mrs. Edward A. Bander, R. F. D. No. 3, 
Easton, Pa. 


Healed of Brights Disease and Other Ailments 


While listening to the full Gospel, which I heard 
you preach in St. Petersburg, Fla., last January, 
I received untold spiritual and physical blessings; 
and it was such a revelation to me to know that 
God is so willing to heal, that I hope and pray I 
may be used to tell others. 

After doctoring for five years for Brights dis- 

ease, high blood pressure (240 and over), sinus 
infection, and several minor ailments, I was told 
that I could live only three months. 
_ I had been to numerous doctors of high reputa- 
tion in the United States and Canada, (Mayo Bros. 
and John Hopkins), to chiropractors and osteo- 
paths, and felt that everything had been done 
that human aid could do. 

But, thank God, He wonderfully healed me phys- 
ically, and I feel like a new person. Spells that 
I used to have three times a week have not re- 
turned since. My blood pressure is down and the 
doctor told me that my heart was normal. And 


174 CHRIST THE HEALER 


I was able to immediately discard my glasses, 
which I have had to wear for years.—Lela Beach, 
Cornwall, Ont., Canada. 


Nurse Healed of Varicose Veins 


For the past four years I have suffered with 
varicose veins. It was impossible for me to stand 
on my feet even for a few minutes without con- 
stantly shifting my weight from one foot to the 
other. Three different times for four months at 
a time, I was compelled to stay off my feet en- 
tirely. 

My limbs were so swollen and inflamed that I 
could not bear any covering over them, even in 
the Winter time, and I always slept with the 
windows open and my limbs exposed to the cold 
air regardless of the temperature of the room. 

Several days ago I came to the tabernacle, and, 
after receiving instruction and teaching on divine 
healing, I was anointed and prayed for. I am en- 
tirely free from pain in my body, and am able 
to walk and work every day without any dis- 
comfort. The knots or lumps on my limbs were 
the size of hen’s eggs, but they have completely 
disappeared; praise the Lord! 

I wish to thank God also, for the healing of my 
little ten-year old daughter. She had suffered 
with chronic bronchitis all her life, continually 
under the doctor’s care and yet never free from 
coughing day and night. Since being anointed 


TESTIMONIES 175 


and prayed for, she has been entirely delivered, 
for which we praise His dear name. 

I shall be glad to have this testimony pubiished 
for His glory and the blessing of others.—Beth 
P. Kvans, No. 2 Ackiey Ave., Johnson City, N. Y. 


Lord Couldn’t Wait! Eager to Bless His 
Children 


In 1914, some time in December, I was unload- 
ing cars of coal and in some way I twisted my 
back. I started for my home, but was picked up 
and carried home, as I could not walk because of 
the intense suffering. 

For three months I could not walk, and for 
three years I could not sleep on a bed. I had to 
sleep on the floor, as I could not bear to lie on 
anything that was not perfectly flat. My left 
side was paralyzed, and was so numb I could 
hardly walk. 

When I heard of the Bosworth brothers coming 
here, and read of their great faith in the Lord 
for healing, I felt my time had come to be healed. 
I got a healing card, but when I came forward 
and found that I could not be prayed for until 
the card had been numbered, I just felt like that 
man of whom we read in the Bible, who every time 
he came to the pool at the troubling of the waters, 
was always too late, and someone else had slipped 
in ahead of him. 

I was standing in front of the platform, feeling 


176 CHRIST THE HEALER 


very much disappointed, and as I turned to go 
back to my seat the Lord spoke to me and said: 
“If you are willing, I will make you whole!” I 
said, “Lord, I am willing.” Praise the Lord, He 
straightened my back and healed the paralyzed 
side, and I can go to bed now and sleep like a 
baby. 

Praise the Lord, and may He heal all that come 
to Him, is my prayer.—Harvey B. Whitecotton, 
1502 Bates St., Indianapolis, Ind. 


Crippled and Deformed from Infantile Paralysis; 
Instantly Healed 


I want you to tell everybody and read this in 
your meetings, so everyone will know what God 
has done for me. 

When I was one year old I had Infantile Pa- 
ralysis. Had to walk on my toe and my heel was 
up to the top of my shoe. My foot also turned 
outward. Last Wednesday, February 17th, our 
kind neighbor, Mrs. Howell, called to me and askea 
me to go with her to the Bosworth meetings, say- 
ing that I would be healed if I were a good boy 
and did no bad deeds. I asked Auntie, who is 
very old and who is keeping our home together 
for father since my mother died with the “Flu,” 
and she said I might go. I came with Mrs. Howell 
for three evenings. On Friday, February 19th, 
I was anointed and prayed for. We had only 
reached our seat a few minutes when my heel 
went down and my foot went over to the other 


TESTIMONIES 177 


one. It felt just as if someone took hold and 
pulled it down and then over to the other one. 
Now I can step on my whole foot and put my 
feet together like any of my other brothers. To- 
day, three days after being healed, I’m learning 
to use roller skates. I’m the happiest boy in 
Easton. I am thirteen years old. I want you to 
tell other crippled boys what God has done for 
me. I will always thank Him and pray every day 
and ask Him to help other little boys.—John Jr. 
Snyder, 600 S. 28rd St., Easton, Pa. 


Woman Dumb Is Instantly Healed 


More than three years ago through sickness, I 
completely lost my power of speech. I have had 
several physicians and all told me I could never 
regain my voice. Some of them told me that the 
vocal organs were paralyzed. During all this time 
I have never been able to make an audible sound. 

I have also been a great sufferer from Rheu- 
matism and Gall-stones. My friends tried to 
make me think it would do me no good to go to 
Bethlehem to be anointed for healing, but I came 
and was anointed and prayed for on February 
2nd and was instantly healed. When I walked 
from the platform back to my seat I found my 
voice completely restored so that after three years 
of total silence I could speak normally and can 
ever since, praise the Lord! My pastor, who did 
not believe I could .be healed, was greatly sur- 
prised to find I could talk when I met him on the 


178 CHRIST THE HEALER 


street. He said, “I have been a ‘doubting Thomas,’ 
but now I am compelled to believe.” 

The pastor of the Baptist Church in Bangor 
asked me to come to his church on Sunday, which 
I did. After telling the audience about the mir- 
acle, he had me stand and show them how I could 
speak. 

I was also healed of my Rheumatism and Gall- 
stones. I am so thankful to God for His mercy. 
—Mrs. Thomas Hughes, 151 Northhampton St., 
Bangor, Pa. 


Woman Instantly Healed of Two Cancers 
Answer to Prayer 


Fifteen years ago my health broke and I was 
compelled to give up my work, as my whole body 
seemed to be filled with some kind of poison that 
puzzled the doctors. For twelve years I suffered 
untold agony without any hope of ever being well 
again. Three and a half years ago 1 grew so much 
worse that I had a doctor four months steady, 
and got worse all the time. Was later told I hada 
cancer at the mouth of the large bowel and fast- 
ened to the spleen. I grew worse and the poison 
affected my left arm and side until I was drawn 
crooked and would scream with agony and pain 
and beg the folks to hold my arm tight as it felt 
as though it were being pulled out of the socket. 
Later the cancer spread to my mouth, going in 
from the throat and under the tongue until it was 
as thick as another tongue and the roots spread 


TESTIMONIES . 179 


out and wrapped the membrane under my tongue. 
A Philadelphia physician, after treating me for a 
while, urged me to go to the Philadelphia Hos- 
pital to see if they would use radium. After sev- 
eral of the professors there examined me, they 
decided they could do nothing for me, as the can- 
cer in my side was fastened to the spleen and the 
one in my mouth was fast to a blood artery, so I 
came home to die. I was a hopeless case. They 
could do nothing. I started to pray to God to have 
mercy, and wept in my room alone, and talked 
with Almighty God in Jesus’ name until he took 
all fear from me. I made up my mind to suffer un- 
til he called me. I got to the place where I was tak- 
ing eighteen doses of medicine a day; nine doses of 
asafoetida to hold my nerves and stomach and to 
keep me from vomiting, as I had violent headaches 
and turns of vomiting. Suffered this way for two 
years, but thank God for Christian friends who 
persuaded me to go to the Bosworth meetings 
being held in Philadelphia. I prayed about it un- 
til the Lord showed me to go. I thank God I 
obeyed. I heard the Gospel in mighty power 
preached there. I went to the enquiry room three 
times and heard the instructions. I then got the 
Evangelist’s book ‘Christ the Healer,” studied the 
references and found that healing was for me. On 
Monday night, June 14, I went to the platform and 
was anointed for healing, and, praise God, He met 
me right there and I was instantly healed. When 
I was being prayed for I felt a shock go through 


180 CHRIST THE HEALER 


my body just like electricity. It seemed as though 
someone grasped the cancer under my tongue and 
was drawing it out of my mouth. I was instantly 
healed then and there of my terrible cancers, have 
taken no medicine since that time, am eating 
whatever I want and have no pain whatever. I 
thank God that the Bosworth Party ever came to 
Philadelphia. May God bless them every one. I 
hope this will help some other sufferer to the 
glorious deliverance I have found.—Mrs. B. Ed- 
wards, 4120 Westfield Ave., Camden, N. J. 


APPROPRIATING FAITH 


A Sapplement to 
“How te Appropriate the Redemptive and Covenant 
Blessing of Bodily Healing” 
(Pages 84-114) 


The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians 
tells us exactly how God works miracles. ‘He 
(God) that ministereth to you the Spirit (the © 
Spirit is the Miracle Worker), and worketh mir- 
acles among you, doeth He it by the works of the 
law, or by the hearing (message) of faith? Even 
as Abraham believed God” (Gal. 3:5). Moffatt 
translates this passage: ‘“‘When He supplies you 
with the Spirit, and works miracles among you, 
is it because you do what the law commands, or 
because you believe the Gospel message? Why, 
it is as with Abraham, he had faith.” 

In this passage God tells us that He works 
miracles upon our bodies in exactly the same way 
as upon our souls, and that is, by having us hear 
and “believe the Gospel Message.” In fact, God’s 
way of doing everything is by making promises 
and then by fulfilling them wherever they pro- 
duce faith. He says, it is with us “as with Abra- 


182 CHRIST THE HEALER 


ham.” How was it with Abraham? Note care- 
fully: | 3 

He simply believed the word of God; “he had 
faith” that God would do exactly as He promised. 

He was “fully persuaded” by the Word of God 
alone. 

He held fast the beginning of his confidence 
when his faith was tested.. 

He was wholly occupied with the Word of God 
in the matter. 

He refused to cast away his confidence when 
God, by telling him to offer Isaac, was apparently 
removing the visible encouragement to his faith. 

He “considered not his own body” or the fact 
that he was about a hundred years old, neither 
“the deadness of Sarah’s womb,” as any barrier or 
any reason for doubting that Isaac would be born 
(Rom. 4:19). These things, which, according to 
nature, made the birth of Isaac impossible, were 
not considered by Abraham as the slightest rea- 
son for doubting. He knew his age; he recognized 
the barreness of Sarah; he weighed the difficul- 
ties; but notwithstanding the impossible, he be- 
lieved God. 

“Under utterly hopeless circumstances,” by 
“looking unto the promise of God” he “waxed 
strong in faith,” being “fully persuaded” (‘‘ab- 
solutely certain’—Weymouth) that God would 
fulfill His promise. Note well: it was by “look- 
ing unto the promise of God” that Abraham 
“waxed strong in faith.” “Every one that look- 


APPROPRIATING FAITH 183 | 


eth upon it’? (God’s remedy and God’s promise) 
was likewise the condition God required for the 
healing of the dying Israelites (Num. 21:8). 
When coming to God for healing, be sure that 
this shall be your attitude, because there is no 
healing promised except on this condition. 

To the extent that we base faith on our im- 
provement, or are affected by our symptoms, or 

by what we see or feel, instead of by the word 
of God alone, just to that extent ours is not real 
faith. To be occupied with what we see or feel is 
to exactly reverse the condition God lays down 
for us to follow. ‘Every one that looketh at it 
shall live,’”’ simply means that every one who, like 
Abraham, so occupies himself with God’s promise 
that he is no longer affected by symptoms, ‘“‘shall 
recover.” It means, the word of God (not what 
we see or feel) shall be the basis of our faith. 
Our “looking unto the promise of God’’ is to be 
kept up until we are healed. If the word of God 
is a good reason for looking to God for mercy, 
then there is no time to stop looking until God 
withdraws His word. 

Note, it was by continuing to look unto the 
promise of God that Abraham experienced the 
miracle. To be occupied with symptoms and in- 
fluenced by them, instead of God’s word, is to 
question the veracity of God. Instead of making 
God a liar, Jonah, from within the fish, gave the 
name “lying vanities” to the symptoms and cir- 
cumstances which seemed to stand in the way of 


184. CHRIST THE HEALER 


his expecting God’s mercy. Realizing that it was 
symptoms and not God that was lying to him, he 
said, “They that observe lying vanities forsake 
their own mercy.’ God never refuses mercy, but 
many “forsake” it by observing their symptoms, 
which are real, but which are “lying vanities,” 
when they say to us that God is not “‘plenteous in 
mercy to all that call upon Him.” 

Abraham’s faith was not based on anything he 
saw; and you must see to it that yours is not. 
All that Abraham could see was contrary to 
what he was expecting. After Isaac was born, 
Abraham had a prop for his faith that, through 
Isaac, “all the nations of the earth shall be 
blessed.” With his eyes upon Isaac—the chan- 
nel through which God was to fulfill the rest of 
His promise—it was easy to believe. So God 
tested his faith, telling him, by offering Isaac, to 
destroy the channel. This did not daunt Abra- 
ham. Real faith thrives on a test. Since he still 
had God’s word for it, he was ready to remove 
every visible encouragement to his expectation, 
and yet continue to be “fully persuaded.” God 
had to halt him or he would have offered Isaac. 
This test was God’s way of perfecting his faith, 
not of destroying it. 

If, after coming to God for healing, He finds 
you more encouraged by your improvement than 
by His Word, He may find it necessary to 
test your faith, in order to teach you the glorious 
lesson of believing His word, when every sense 


APPROPRIATING FAITH 185 


contradicts Him. Faith has to do only with the 
Word of God. 

In Heb. 10:35, 36, God says, to all whose faith 
is based on His Word, “Cast not therefore away 
your confidence, which hath great recompense of 
reward, for ye have need of patience that, after 
ye have done the will of God, ye might receive 
the promise.” “For we are made partakers 
if we hold the beginning of our confidence stead- 
fast to the end” (Heb. 3:14). 

Directiy contrary to this, after being anointed 
and prayed for, instead of rejoicing in the prom- 
ise of God, I have heard some say in disappoint- 
ment, “I thought sure I was going to be healed.”’ 
Instantly, I knew they had never caught the idea 
of what faith is. Their idea was to get well first, 
and then to believe that God had heard prayer. 
If God’s word were the sole reason for their expec- 
tation, they would have held fast the beginning 
of their confidence. It is never proper or reason- 
able to cast away your confidence as long as you 
have the word of God as its basis. It is promised 
that we shall be partakers, only on the condition 
that we “hold the beginning of our confidence 
steadfast.” During the interim between God’s 
promise and its fulfillment, instead of watching 
symptoms and casting away his confidence be- 
cause he had nothing visible to encourage him, 
Abraham did exactly the reverse. By “looking - 
unto the promise of God, he wavered not through 
unbelief; but waxed strong in faith, giving glory 


186 CHRIST THE HEALER 


to God” (Rom. 4:20 R. V.). After Jonah, from 
within the fish, prayed for mercy, he did not cast 
away his confidence because there was no visible 
proof that his prayer was heard. He held fast 
his confidence, and added to it, in advance, “the 
sacrifice of thanksgiving.” After marching 
around the walls of Jericho, Joshua and the 
children of Israel did not cast away their confi- 
dence because the walls of the City were still up. 
‘Their faith was based on God’s word: “I have 
delivered Jericho into thy hands.” If none of 
these cast away their confidence, why should you? 

Your state of mind should be the same as 
Noah’s, when he was building a ship on dry land 
and putting pitch into the cracks to keep the 
water out. In his mind, the fact of a coming 
flood was fully settled, and the word of God was 
the sole reason for this state of mind. Your state 
of mind should be the same as Abraham’s. With 
him, the matter of Isaac being born was fully 
settled, even though all the symptoms were to 
the contrary. God’s word, to you, concerning 
your healing, is just as clear and explicit as it was 
to Abraham. 

In Mark 11:24, Jesus tells us exactly the con- 
ditions he requires for our appropriation of any 
of the blessings He has promised. He says, “What 
things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe 
that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” 
That is, “ye shall have them” after you believe 
He has heard your prayer. As Jesus said, “I 


APPROPRIATING FAITH 187 


thank Thee that Thou hast heard me,” while Laz- 
arus was still dead; so we should be able to say, 
“fT thank Thee that Thou hast heard me” while 
we are still sick. ‘Ye shall have them” is your 
answer from Jesus and is also your proof that 
your prayer has been heard. To faith, the Word 
of God is the Voice of God. He has not promised 
us that our healing shall begin until after we be- 
lieve that he has heard our prayer. “If we ask 
anything according to his will, he heareth us.” If 
this is true, then believe your prayer has been 
heard when you really pray. We must be able 
to say, ““We know we have the petition we desire 
of him,” not because we see the answer, but be- 
cause “God is faithful who also will do it.” 

It is never proper to base faith on our improve- 
ment after prayer. I have heard some say, with 
great delight, “Oh, Iam so much better since I was 
prayed for; now I know I will get well!” This 
means, that in the place of God’s promise, they 
have some other reason for expecting to get well. 
There is no reason for faith as good as the word 
of God. Suppose, as soon as I pray for a man’s 
healing, he could know he was just fifty per cent 
improved. This improvement in his condition is not 
near as good a reason for knowing he will entirely 
recover as is the promise of God, even though, 
after prayer, he should become fifty per cent worse. 
Suppose you promise your child a certain thing, 
and the next day you find that she is expecting 
exactly what you promised, but not because you 


188 CHRIST THE HEALER 


promised it,—she has some other reason for ex- 
pecting it. This would grieve you, for it would 
prove she did not trust your word. 

It honors God to believe Him even while every 
sense contradicts Him; and He promises to honor 
those who honor Him. God has promised to re- 
spond only to the faith that is produced by and 
rests in His Word, or promise. Some expect to 
believe they have been heard as soon as they feel 
better. He did not say that He sent better feel- 
ings to produce faith and then healed them,—‘‘He 
sent His Word and healed them.” God himself 
“sent His Word’; we did not “worm” it out of 
Him. How absurd, then, to doubt it. Is it not 
more rational to expect God to keep His promise 
than to expect Him to break it? Really, 
nothing can be more ridiculous or absurd than to 
allow symptoms or feelings to cause us to doubt 
the fulfillment of God’s promises. Suppose your 
child, after being promised a new dress, should 
sprain her ankle, and should cast away her confi- 
dence for the dress because the ankle was painful. 
You say to her, “My dear child, I promised to get 
you the new dress. Can you not believe my 
word?” She answers: “But, Mother, my ankle 
still hurts. It doesn’t feel a bit better; it seems 
to be getting worse.” How absurd is such rea- 
soning. Now if it be absurd to doubt one promise, 
because of pain, then it is equally ridiculous to 
doubt any promise. Suppose, again, that after you 
promise her the new dress, she runs to the mirror 


APPROPRIATING FAITH 189 


to see if she looks any more “dressed up,” and then 
says: “I cannot see any difference; I do not look 
a bit better ;” and then gives up the idea of hav- 
ing a new dress. 

To learn how to believe that God hears us when 
we pray, is a much greater blessing than is the 
healing itself, because then, the prayer of faith 
can be repeated ten thousand times, for ourselves 
and others, and thus our whole life be spent in 
obtaining the fulfillment of Divine promises. 

Thus we have seen how Abraham experienced 
a miracle; and God says it is with us “as with 
Abraham.” In this same way, therefore, we may 
all receive the fulfillment of God’s promises, “who 
also walk in the same steps of that faith of our 
Father Abraham” (Rom. 4:12). 





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